No comments about Tino Turtle Travels to Nairobi, Kenya.

No comments about Kenya (Footprint - Travel Guides).

3 comments about Fodor's Kenya and Tanzania, 1st Edition: The Guide for All Budgets Where to Stay, Eat, and Explore On and Off the Beaten Path (Fodor's Gold Guides).

1. The coverage of Tanzania in this book is quite sparse. I did not find it to be useful at all, and a great disappointment. I then went out and bought Lonely Planet's book on Tanzania, and was very pleased with the depth of information it offered, including such things as maps of towns with locations of ATM's, hotels, etc and color photographs. This is a much more useful book if you are going to Tanzania.



2. Whatever you do- DONT buy this worthless book. Unless you just want to stay in 5 star lodges and do and see NOTHING ELSE. I had the Lonely Planet Kenya that I dragged with me backpacking in Kenya- It was wonderful. The East Africa Lonely Planet is great too. Save your money!



3. Three-fourths of this book is dedicated to Kenya. The addition of Tanzania was clearly an afterthought. The descriptions of lodgings are rather generic and there are only a few hotels, attractions, or restaurants listed. On Zanzibar, we did better with a 20 page pamphlet of ads than with this book. Don't waste your money on this book if you're headed to Tanzania or Zanzibar.

4 comments about Lonely Planet Trekking in East Africa.

1. I used this book to plan and complete a Kilimanjaro climb, a Tanzanian safari (Serengeti, Olduvai Gorge, Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara) and a trip up the coast of Kenya. The book was more than helpful; it was essential to the success of the trip. Helpful information is complete, accurate and relevant: exactly what you will find in the Lonely Planet Trekking guide. The helpful information -- routes, housing, food, currency, gear, etc. -- are tools to keep you safe, healthy, prepared and even comfortable. The essential information is much more: it gives you a feel for where you are going and what's important about being there. Descriptions of languages, religions, customs, history, geography, geology, climate, etc., gave me a deeper awareness of the countries I was navigating through. This book is strong on both counts. Here's an example: The vocabulary lists were really helpful in opening conversations with staff, villagers and border officials. However, the book's essential advice was to just try your best at speaking Swahili, and the people you meet will respond very warmly to your having made the effort. The results were heartwarming, and they opened the doors to other discoveries I could not have made otherwise. The book itself is a valuable commodity. On Kilimanjaro I leafed through the chapters for maps and plant descriptions. The book so fascinated my guide that I gave him my copy as a parting present (though I couldn't part with it on the climb since it was the only map & route description we had!) Note that the Lonely Planet Trekking books do not promise to be field guides for the areas they describe: bring another volume(s) to help identify the flora and fauna you encounter.



2. I found this book a good introduction to anyone expecting to go trekking in East Africa. It goes over, in substantial detail, all the factors you may face (medicine, visas, hotels, transportation, tours, trails, etc.). However, there is very little on the trekking peaks, which I thought would be the most interesting portion of the book. For example, on Mt Kilimanjaro there are only maybe 5-6 pages, with only an overview description of the routes. If you are looking for overall trekking in East Africa, this is good book, but if you are looking for info on the trekking peaks, there are other, more specific guides, that may be more helpful.



3. To the auther , davidelse/ david wenk.
   Thankyou very much for your advice in your book trekking in east africa , which i used when i was travelling in kenya and Tanzania.I Would like to tell you my exeprience Horiday in Kenya with Mountsafaris Adventure, and hoping you will consider this small company.
   I really had a great time with mountsafaris adventure.
   I can say that kenya is a nice and safe country to travel. I did camping safaris and trekking mount kenya for 6 days sirimon chogoria route ,oh beautiful vegetation. Guide and porters were great helper , food was nice , The trip was well organised. Mountsafaris are trusted , as i sent them 1500 us dollar deposite for my 3 weeks horiday , and everything work perfect .They booked the , hotel , organise everything for my trip , so when i come everything was ready .They picked me from the airport on time , direct to the hotel ,following the trip start.
   Camping was fun , Mountsafaris staff were friendly , very safe with them both on the mountains and on safari . Their camps have all facility.
   
   Mountsafaris prices are fair . Their prices are all incrusive , like , pick ups from the airport, park fees, transport by landcruser with open roof. tour driver ,food three meals a day ,cook .
   . I can definitely recommend Mountsafaris adventure they're cheaper compared to others companys ,they have Good services , knowledgeable and reliable Tour Operators and offer a really good range of trekking mount kenya , camping and lodge safaris .
   
   thankyou ,again continue writting more advice on your book as they are really helping the travellers , You need to also to be considering some of the company who are doing good services for the tourist.
   Some of the companys like Mountsafaris are good but they are not mention on the your book. I come to know mountsafaris throuhg a friend who did trekking mount kenya with them .
   Congraturation for the work you are doing .
   Sonia .



4. To the auther , davidelse/ david wenk.
   Thankyou very much for your advice in your book trekking in east africa , which i used when i was travelling in kenya and Tanzania.I Would like to tell you my exeprience Horiday in Kenya with Mountsafaris Adventure, and hoping you will consider this small company.
   I really had a great time with mountsafaris adventure. website www.mountsafaris.com
   I can say that kenya is a nice and safe country to travel. I did camping safaris and trekking mount kenya for 6 days sirimon chogoria route ,oh beautiful vegetation. Guide and porters were great helper , food was nice , The trip was well organised. Mountsafaris are trusted , as i sent them 1500 us dollar deposite for my 3 weeks horiday , and everything work perfect .They booked the , hotel , organise everything for my trip , so when i come everything was ready .They picked me from the airport on time , direct to the hotel ,following the trip start.
   Camping was fun , Mountsafaris staff were friendly , very safe with them both on the mountains and on safari . Their camps have all facility.
   
   Mountsafaris prices are fair . Their prices are all incrusive , like , pick ups from the airport, park fees, transport by landcruser with open roof. tour driver ,food three meals a day ,cook .
   . I can definitely recommend Mountsafaris adventure they're cheaper compared to others companys ,they have Good services , knowledgeable and reliable Tour Operators and offer a really good range of trekking mount kenya , camping and lodge safaris .
   
   thankyou ,again continue writting more advice on your book as they are really helping the travellers , You need to also to be considering some of the company who are doing good services for the tourist.
   Some of the companys like Mountsafaris are good but they are not mention on the your book. I come to know mountsafaris throuhg a friend who did trekking mount kenya with them .
   Congraturation for the work you are doing .
   Sonia .

5 comments about Elephants' Graveyard.

1. "Elephants" Graveyard", one of Karin Mcquillan's mysteries set in Africa (the others being "Deadly Safari" and "Cheetah Chase") is more than just a thrilling, good read. Ms Mcqillan is doing something that perhaps no other mystery writer is doing: she is combining her ability to write a fast paced murder mystery with her obvious love for nature and the animals she writes about. Ms. Mcquillan's deep concern about the dangers facing these animals as well as her knowledge of the disappearing environment which these animals inhabit should make her the darling of the World Wildlife Fund. She is doing them and us a great service. Like a wonderful juggling act, she is entertaining and thrilling her readers at the same time as she is instructing them. Read them all. They are marvelous!



2. The other two reviews have pointed out how, in Elephant's Graveyard and the other McQuillan books, the African nature scenes are terrific, and they are. What I want to point out is what a great heroine Jazz is. She moves fast, takes on adventures as if she were born for the chase, and never misses a beat as she navigates this exotic landscape. She has a thoroughly modern risk-taking sensibility and yet is totally feminine, not just a reproduction of tough guy detectives found in other novels. The real mystery is why this series hasn't continued. McQuillan's readers want to know more about this world of Africa and this character in it.



3. This is my second book by author Karin McQuillan, and I am ready to read her third - Cheetah Chase! The book is well written, interesting - fast paced and lyrical at different points. The author's love of Africa, of its wildlife and her perceptive understanding of human nature come through very clearly. The book is written intelligently, with unexpected twists and turns to keep the reader curious and challenged. Its main protagonist is a real and likeable personality. I look forward to book number four!



4. As with her first Jazz Jasper novel, Deadly Safari, Karin McQuillan's Elephant's Graveyard provides adventure, mystery and entertainment. That's a good start. On top of that, McQuillan's action scenes are among the most exciting and gritty ever written for a woman protagonist. Set in the beauty of the African Jungle, Elephant's Graveyard explores all kinds of relationships between people, animals, the environment, and ultimately, between good and evil. It's a great read that comes complete with a set of moral standards firmly in place. Write on, Karin McQuillan. Jazz is a winner.



5. The way, the author describes Kenya is wonderful. I've been there before and this book is like a safari to memory lane. Whether it is the beautiful Kenya of tourists and safaris and wildlife or the shocking Kenya of Nairobi slums, whether it is the culture of Kikuyu or the life of whites in this African country, it is all painted in vivid colors! I really loved that part. But the mystery part was sucks, pardon my language. I have already read "Deadly Safari" and it sounds so dumb, that the same lady should come across three murders in less than one year. And of course she solves them heroically. More or less without anybody's help. That's great, it's just a little too way off for my taste. If I may suggest something to the author: keep writing about Kenya, but try something different from mystery. Or at least let go of Jazz Jasper!

5 comments about Shootback.

1. Having myself written academically on Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA), the organization out of which this initiative originated, I am thrilled that Shootback: Photos by Kids from the Nairobi Slums has appeared on the North American website of amazon.com. This is an absorbing and thought-provoking book that challenges the way we (North Americans) view the world. A lot of hard work has gone into this labor of love by Lana Wong and her brave band of photographers, and it shows.

   MYSA, by anyone's standards, is a remarkable organization, and this is a remarkable book. Seldom is the dictum: "A picture is worth a thousand words" more appropriate. Shootback provides a candid window into hard places and hard times, but never loses hope, because it is framed through the eyes and described in the words of young people. The book is far more than the sum total of its photographs. Rarely do slum dwellers -- even less the children of the slum -- get to tell us the story of their lives and communities. Shootback therefore provides an insider's view of a slum community with all its energy and resilience. I heartily recommend a wonderful book. Prepare to be both troubled and inspired!




2. Shootback is an awesome book. I spent the last 5 months in Kenya going to school and it is the only way that one can truely understand the horrors of the slums of a third world country. These kids who live there are being given an oppertunity that they never would have gotten otherwise. They get the chance to share with the world and reach people who might be able to make a difference for them. This is no ordinary touristy book about the incredible country of Kenya, this shows the way that many of it's people live. Shootback shares the inside of the slums like nothing else. A normal tourist couldn't go there, let alone bring a camera there. I want to say thanks to the author and creator of the Shootback ministry. You help people see the real side of Kenya.



3. This book is a great collection of pictures from Mathare, but it is no replacement for going there. I just returned from spending the last five weeks in Mathare and neighboring Eastleigh, where some of the worst poverty in the world exists. The book portrays graphic images and does a wonderful job of trying to capture the stark reality of the plight of these kids.

   As someone who has sat with the street children in their bases, the book does as good of a job as you can get with pictures alone, but it is simply no substitute for being there.




4. Lana Wong has done a great job of putting together a remarkable collection of some of the best adolescent photography the world has seen. Not only are the photos an accurate portrayal of the desperate lives thesechildren and thier families lead, but they are full of expression. The MYSA Shootback project has helped these children find talemts they never expected they had, or never had the opportuniy to nurture. Lana Wong has done a beautiful thing for so many people, if you are interested in africa and photography, this book is a must.



5. Lana Wong has done a great job of putting together a remarkable collection of some of the best adolescent photography the world has seen. Not only are the photos an accurate portrayal of the desperate lives thesechildren and thier families lead, but they are full of expression. The MYSA Shootback project has helped these children find talemts they never expected they had, or never had the opportuniy to nurture. Lana Wong has done a beautiful thing for so many people, if you are interested in africa and photography, this book is a must.

5 comments about Breath of Kenya: A Missionary Journal.

1. There are books that open your eyes and books that move you. This book did both. I was truly moved by what I read. It was written in a way that made you feel like you were right next door to the strange goings on.
   
   From a purely literary standpoint it is a very strong piece of work - especially considering it is a book that was derived from a journal. It does not read like a journal at all. It feels more like a drama with a bunch of comic relief to keep you sane.
   
   I originally bought it because I wanted to know more about Kenya. This book told the odd little occurrences in a way that makes you laugh out loud but it also moves you to tears.
   
   This book really needs to be read by everyone but I think women especially relate to it because it covers the issue of African women so openly.
   
   If I had to some it up in four words I would say: "I had no idea." I give this book 5 stars and I'm star-stingy.



2. This is a beautifully written, personal account of the daily life, and unimaginably difficult existance of the average, rural people of Kenya. It'll make you laugh and cry, and feel hope and outrage, all on the same page. It's full of grippping imagery and beautiful prose. Written from the perspective of a Christian missionaly, I, as a non-Christian, found it to be both humanly and spiritually enlightening. I highly recommend it to anyone who considers himself to be a citizen of the world.



3. Poetry, Rich text and Dialogue encouraged me to read more. I did not want Herrick's adventure to end.Photogrphs bring the story alive.It left me with a feeling that we must all go the distance to make earth a much better place.



4. Before reading Breath of Kenya Africa was a continent far away, one with issues that prompted me to give money to relief organizations now and again. Reading Herrick's book put Kenya in my living room and in my heart.
   
   I was particularly touched by the story of a widow, emaciated from aids and just a day from death who makes a final trip to her abandoned marital home in search of her red dress. The story later to reveal she was only 16.
   
   The author does not soft pedal the cause and effect relationship of the health crisis he encounters. One Christian reviewer equates this candidness to discrimination and judgment, purporting the Kenyan's need for facilitation. Herrick unapologetically demonstrates a need for involvement far beyond facilitation into an axiom of change. Which he exemplifies by making this challenging journey, helping the people and taking the time to tell this story.
   
   The book is a potent read and a call to action, I recommend it to anyone whoo wants to believe one person can make the world a better place.



5. Charles Herrick did an excellent job of bringing the story of his experience to me. I passed the book along to my friend, Diane, and she expressed her appreciation of the story and the contribution of Mr. Herrick in Africa.
   
   Jacque Stallman and Diane Carmel

No comments about Between the elephant's eyes (A Ballantine Bal-Hi book).

5 comments about White Masai.

1. Unfortnately, it was the schadenfreude that kept me reading, and not the "romantic" angle or the "gripping yarn" comprised largely of the author's tangles with bureaucracy or free trade in Kenya. I came to dislike the author early in the book, and it was knowing that I would have the satisfaction of seeing her capricious actions and her condescending post-colonial attitude come back and bite her that kept me glued to the book to the very last page.
   
   I had trouble believing that a 27 year-old woman - old enough to know better - on vacation in Kenya WITH HER BOYFRIEND would, upon seeing the Samburu who became her husband, begin stalking him and proclaiming him "[her] Masai" with a frightening and single-minded obsession. Love at first sight? Really? And then you stalk him all over Kenya for the next several months?
   
   The author continues on her flighty course, foisting herself on this young man she has fallen for, and then foisting herself on his family and village in northern Kenya. She seems to expect their culture to change to suit her, and when it doesn't, she acts as if she's a victim. In fact, she plays the martyr throughout the book, whenever things don't go her way, whether the problems are the result of cultural differences or because she insists on driving a dangerous jungle road (over and over and over and over again) despite numerous near-disastrous trips on the road. No matter how many stupid choices she makes, she always finds someone or something to blame when things blow up in her face.
   
   She seems endlessly put off by almost everyone she encounters during the course of the narrative, whether it's her baby daughter for messing up diapers, or the Italian priest in the mission neighboring the Samburu village who inconveniences her by not being at her disposal to bail her out of yet another of her self-inflicted disasters (broken car - AGAIN, ran out of sugar, etc.). Shortly after her marriage to the Samburu, her tone toward him, as she tells the story, changes, and you can tell that she is almost immediately disenchanted pretty much the moment she makes a formal commitment to him. Unfortunately, by then, she's pregnant and more or less stuck in the situation. Again, it's a situation which she doggedly and tirelessly pursued, so it's hard to feel sorry for her reaping the rewards of her actions.
   
   She recklessly disregards her health (I can't count the number of times she recounts how little she's eaten - but always with a figurative martyrish sigh); the most descriptive writing in the book deals with her two-and-a-half chapters retelling her miseries with malaria; and while I'm certain that malaria is no picnic, she brought it all on herself, every single woe that befalls her in the book, and it's hard to feel sorry for her, as she obviously wants the reader to do. She clearly wishes the reader to read her account and say, "Oh, poor Corinne! Look what she must put up with - all for love!" but by the time she starts complaining in earnest, you realize how flighty, immature, and manipulative she is, and it's hard to pity her for actively pursuing the situation that is currently making her miserable.
   
   As well as complaining about the ways "[her] darling" - ugh - disappoints her, she does little but complain about... well, nearly everything else, too. How hard it is to get a permit to open a store or get married. How far away all the towns are. How hard it is to get stock for her store. How dangerous the jungle road - that she still insists on taking every trip, inexplicably - is. How lousy her car is. How little she eats. How hard she works. How hard it is to be the only white person for miles. The entire book is a litany of complaints.
   
   Her writing - and maybe part of this is the translation from German to English - is workmanlike and strangely dispassionate. The tales of her frequent journeys to various towns and villages in Kenya have a hypnotic quality because they're all the same ("I must go to Nairobi. How I hate that place! It will take me days to get there." And then she recounts the various problems - tire puncture, broken clutch, broken transmission, leaky battery - that she has in getting there. And then discusses how unhelpful the bureaucrats are. And then describes the trip back home - tire puncture, broken clutch, broken transmission, leaky battery. And then the complaints about "home," in the Samburu village, despite the fact it appears the villagers bend over backward to make her comfortable both within and outside of their culture, which she so rudely crashed into without consulting anyone but her own fickle heart). For someone whose writing is so detached, though, she manages quite a bit of melodrama, but it rings empty, much in the same way that a heroine in a Gothic novel speaks hollowly of her great love and her vast troubles. And then she faints prettily and waits to be rescued by a gallant gentleman with smelling salts. This is what the entire book is like.
   
   The author is enormously self-centered and selfish, and as she expects the Samburu culture to bend to her needs, she refuses to take up much of any of the culture to meet her new family and neighbors halfway. This, unsurprisingly, causes clashes, wherein, again, she seems to believe that she is the victim and the villagers and her husband and his family are the victimizers. She has an incredibly condescending, undeniably racist attitude toward them and winds up emasculating her husband terribly. This leads to poor behavior on his part, to the point that I ALMOST felt sorry for her the last couple of chapters, but the poor guy was stalked and outmatched by an insufferably selfish and manipulative woman, so his behavior - acceptable in his culture - gets a pass from me.
   
   What kept me reading was, at first, the hope that the author would become less self-involved and more self-aware, and that the "part travel-writing" part touted on the back of the book would begin to evidence itself. Once it dawned on me that this wouldn't happen, I kept reading to see the author's downfall. Pure bonus were the letters at the very end of the book wherein she tries to explain herself to pretty much everyone she came into close contact with during her years in Kenya, in which she sounds indescribably self-serving and reveals that she learned absolutely nothing about herself or the culture into which she injected herself while she was there. I suppose her book is an explanation to the rest of us about what happened, and an attempt to make us believe that she is noble, brave, and tragic. I found her more to be stubborn, headstrong, and impetuous, and I'm glad the book is over so I can move on to more worthy projects.
   
   If you are able to borrow this book, by all means, give it a read. It was entertaining, it its own way, to read about this woman's constant delusion and habitual victimhood, and, like I said, I couldn't put it down once I'd started. But I'm sorry I paid money for the book, and I wouldn't do it again.



2. I received this book for Christmas and while it held my interest until the end, I was flabbergasted at how her obsession blinded her. Egads!



3. Despite being a successful businesswoman in Switzerland, 27-year-old Corinne Hofmann still didn't know the difference between lust and love. She did one stupid thing after another in chasing down a man based solely on his looks, pursuing him across Kenya, pushing for a marriage even though he was acting crazy soon after they met, and taking her European lifestyle to a remote Samburu village. Some surprise when "her darling" turned into someone she didn't expect. I still don't think she realizes what an idiot she was, but she meant well and placed her trust in the fantasy of a love that would cross all barriers.
   
   Several things stick in my mind about the book. 1. How Samburu women are worth less than goats. 2. How "her Masai" Lketinga suggested that instead of marriage she just come visit him on holidays but oh no she doesn't listen... if some guy said that to me I'd get the message. 3. After living in the village she loses a lot of weight and realizes her problem is the same as everyone else's: a lack of food. Amazing she could be there so long before she noticed.
   
   I was impressed by her loving terms toward Lketinga at the beginning of the book. She really pulled off how taken she was by him, even though when she wrote the book it was no longer the case. Despite her questionable choices at the beginning of her relationship, she did get out of it quickly when it was obvious it was never going to improve.
   
   The White Masai is a great read with her cultural observations and experiences. I have the sequel but can't start reading it until I have a weekend where I have nothing else to do,- I know I won't be able to put it down.



4. If you enjoy adventure stories, this is a fast read. Corinne Hofmann does not write fluently, but her book is captivating. That being said, readers just can't help but dislike the author for many reasons (read the many other reviews). She does, however, capture the essence of Samburu life and effectively shows how similar/different world cultures really are. The non-western perspectives (clitorectomies, no mouth-kissing, crying only at deaths, etc.)are what make this an interesting story. Readers also realize some things are universal and never change--like jealousy, greed and corruption. One wonders how Corinne would have fit in had she not been a white female bearing gifts and money. One note--there is little, if any, detail in this book about Kenya's natural wonders.



5. I could not relate to the author's fanatic obsession of insisting that she had to be with this Masai man. I was tempted to throw the book away in the first two chapters. I only continued to read because I have been to Kenya myself and it gave me more insight into the Masai's culture and traditions. Worth reading if you are interested in the Masai tribe and/or the difficulties in daily living in Africa-things that we take for granted in the Western world.

No comments about The Rough Guide to Kenya (Rough Guides).