Welcome!

Enrich Your Travels with Longitude

We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.

SIGN UP FOR

Longitude News

Get our monthly e-mail update

GET A

Catalog

East Africa

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

  • E-MAIL
  • PRINT

Kids

Books for

Essential Reading

Item EXEAF465. Buy these 4 items as a set for $75 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

ADD SET
TO BOOKBAG

Wildlife of East Africa

Wildlife of East Africa

by Martin B. Withers | David Hosking

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES
  • BEST SELLER

This take-along guide to 475 common species of birds, mammals, reptiles, insects, trees and flowers of East Africa features full-color photographs with detailed descriptions on facing pages. (EAF108, $19.95)

The Safari Companion

The Safari Companion

by Richard Estes

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 459 PAGES
  • BEST SELLER

An invaluable encyclopedic guide to Africa's mammals by a noted scientist. Written with the typical safari-goer in mind, this perennial bestseller includes black-and-white drawings, an overview of each group and in-depth information. (AFR06, $30.00)

West with the Night

West with the Night

by Beryl Markham

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1983
  • PAPER
  • 294 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Markham evokes the landscapes, people and wildlife of East Africa in engrossing detail in this memoir of adventures as a bush pilot in 1930s Kenya. A Longitude favorite. (EAF10, $16.00)

Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda Map

Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda Map

by Freytag & Berndt

  • MAP

A colorful shaded relief map at a scale of 1:2,000,000. (EAF35, $14.95)

 
Kenya & Northern Tanzania (Serengeti) Map

Kenya & Northern Tanzania (Serengeti) Map


by Nelles

  • 2008
  • MAP

A detailed map of Kenya and northern Tanzania (including the Serengeti) at a scale of 1:1,100,000 with inset maps of Lamu, Nairobi and Mombasa. (EAF07, $13.95)

Say it in Swahili

Say it in Swahili


by Sharifa Zawawi

  • LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS
  • 1972
  • PAPER
  • 205 PAGES

A palm-size pocket guide to common phrases and expressions. (EAF46, $5.95)

Wildlife Photography, On Safari With Your DSLR

Wildlife Photography, On Safari With Your DSLR


by Uwe Skrzypczak

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 240 PAGES

Skrzypczak includes chapters on equipment, technique, composition and wildlife in this practical, beautifully illustrated guide, loaded with striking images of the wildlife of Ngorongoro, Serengeti and the Masai Mara. (EAF379, $39.95)

Africa, A Biography of the Continent

Africa, A Biography of the Continent


by John Reader

  • HISTORY
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 816 PAGES

With the ease of a practiced journalist, Reader weaves a masterful and lively tale of the continent, from ancient cultures to modern times. Both authoritative and informal, this is a splendid introduction to all of Africa. (AFR49, $18.95)

The Scramble for Africa

The Scramble for Africa


by Thomas Pakenham

  • HISTORY
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 738 PAGES

Absorbing and meticulously researched, this in-depth history of the Victorian land grab in Africa includes excellent portraits of the egomaniacal personalities who overran the continent. (AFR26, $23.99)

Tribes of the Great Rift Valley

Tribes of the Great Rift Valley


by Elizabeth Gilbert

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2007
  • HARD COVER
  • 272 PAGES

A photojournalist based in East Africa since 1991, Gilbert (Broken Spears) turns her attention on the traditional peoples of Eritrea, the Ethiopian highlands, and plains of Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi in this collection of striking black-and-white photographs. (EAF180, $75.00)

From Lucy to Language

From Lucy to Language


by Donald Johanson | Blake Edgar

  • ARCHAEOLOGY
  • 2006
  • HARD COVER
  • 288 PAGES

This strikingly illustrated survey features 200 color photographs of nearly all the early hominid remains, mostly at actual size. With concise and clear accompanying essays by Johanson. (EAF85, $65.00)

African Silences

African Silences


by Peter Matthiessen

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 225 PAGES

In this narrative of Equatorial Africa, Matthiessen recounts several trips to The Gambia, Senegal, Zaire and the Congo Basin in search of rhinos, elephants and other endangered wildlife. (WAF36, $13.00)

Green Hills of Africa

Green Hills of Africa


by Ernest Hemingway

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1935
  • PAPER
  • 295 PAGES

Hemingway paints the true story of his ramblings on safari in this classic, exquisitely written tale of hunting around Lake Manyara, which includes some of the best writing on the land itself and original pencil drawings. (EAF25, $16.00)

North of South, An African Journey

North of South, An African Journey


by Shiva Naipaul

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1979
  • PAPER
  • 349 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

A sharp portrait of Africa, circa 1979. A brilliant and provocative observer, Naipaul meditates on the various peoples he encounters in Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia. The best, most insightful thing we've read about race relations in Africa. (EAF28, $16.00)

Out of Africa

Out of Africa


by Isak Dinesen

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1985
  • PAPER
  • 466 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

The perennially best-selling tale of a naive young woman who leaves Denmark for East Africa, Dinesen's autobiography draws us into life on a struggling coffee plantation. It's a moving story inspired by a love for Kenya and its people. Includes the novella Shadows on the Grass. (EAF22, $15.00)

The Tree Where Man Was Born

The Tree Where Man Was Born


by Peter Matthiessen

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 368 PAGES

A classic portrait of East Africa, enthralling in its detail on nature and daily life. Includes Maasai, Ngorongoro, the Kenyan highlands, and Mathiessen's field trips, safaris and adventures in the Serengeti. (EAF27, $17.00)

The Worlds of a Maasai Warrior

The Worlds of a Maasai Warrior


by Ole Saitoti

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1988
  • PAPER
  • 144 PAGES

Bridging several worlds with tremendous grace, Saitoti looks back on his life among the Maasai, both as spokesperson for his tribe and as one of the first Maasai safari guides. (EAF29, $27.95)

Too Close to the Sun: The Audacious Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton

Too Close to the Sun: The Audacious Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton


by Sara Wheeler

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 292 PAGES

Sara Wheeler captures the romance and adventure of 1920s-era East Africa in this winning biography of the handsome gadabout, daring bush pilot and companion of Baroness Blixen and Beryl Markham. (EAF172, $18.00)

Unbowed, A Memoir

Unbowed, A Memoir


by Wangari Maathai

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 368 PAGES

The remarkable life story of Nobel Prize-winning Wangari, the founder Kenya's Green Belt Movement who has spent a lifetime fighting for women's rights and the environment. Forty million trees have been planted in Kenya. (EAF167, $15.00)

A Guide to the Birds of East Africa, A Novel

A Guide to the Birds of East Africa, A Novel


by Nicholas Drayson

  • LITERATURE
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 192 PAGES

Drayson draws on his time in Nairobi for this sweet novel about East Africa society -- revolving, naturally, around birding, and the Hunt Ball at the Asadi Club. Reality intervenes in the shape of renegade Somalis. (EAF195, $13.95)

Assegai

Assegai


by Wilbur A. Smith

  • LITERATURE
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 512 PAGES

A suspense-filled tale of intrigue and global politicking in the days before World War I, set in East Africa. After rising to fame because of a high-profile safari rescue, a big-game hunter gets tangled up in a German plot to sow rebellion in British Africa. (EAF202, $9.99)

Desertion


by Abdulrazak Gurnah

  • LITERATURE
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 272 PAGES

Set in Zanzibar, this novel of a troubled love affair spans sixty years, painting a vivid portrait of turn-of-the-century colonial Africa. (EAF138, $13.95)

Everything Good Will Come


by Sefi Atta

  • LITERATURE
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 335 PAGES

Narrated by an 11-year old girl and set in 1971 Nigeria, Atta's first novel is a powerful story of coming-of-age in a patriarchal and war-torn society. (EAF374, $15.00)

The Clouds Beneath the Sun

The Clouds Beneath the Sun


by Mackenzie Ford

  • LITERATURE
  • 2010
  • HARD COVER
  • 320 PAGES

A rousing good read, authentic setting and morally ambiguous plot make this latest novel by Mackenzie Ford, nom de plume of historian Peter Watson, a winner. Mackenzie brings real depth and authority to this novel of a young archaeologist in Kenya in the turbulent 1960s. (EAF367, $26.95)

The Snows of Kilimanjaro

The Snows of Kilimanjaro


by Ernest Hemingway

  • LITERATURE
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 156 PAGES

Set in Africa, this collection of 10 prime Hemingway stories includes not just the famous title story but also The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, a chilling masterpiece about an American couple on a big-game safari. (EAF26, $14.00)

Africa, The Serengeti

Africa, The Serengeti


by George Casey

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 1994
  • DVD

James Earl Jones narrates this dazzling 40-minute IMAX documentary of the migration of wildebeest in the Serengeti and Masai Mara. (EAF120, $19.99)

Ngorongoro

Ngorongoro


by Reinhard Kunkel

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2006
  • HARD COVER
  • 336 PAGES

Kunkel's three hundred stunning photographs celebrate the abundant wildlife of the crater and surrounding conservation area. Kunkel has been traveling and photographing in the region since 1973. (EAF165, $75.00)

On This Earth, Photographs from East Africa

On This Earth, Photographs from East Africa


by Nick Brandt

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2005
  • HARD COVER
  • 129 PAGES

Brandt's haunting duotone portraits depict the majesty of elephants, antelope, cats and wildlife on the plains of Kenya and Tanzania. (EAF358, $40.00)

Serengeti, The Eternal Beginning

Serengeti, The Eternal Beginning


by Boyd Norton

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2011
  • HARD COVER
  • 288 PAGES

Featuring 250 exquisite color photographs alongside Norton's firsthand accounts of travels in Serengeti National Park, Kenya's Masai Mara, and Ngorongoro over a decades-long career. (EAF378, $35.00)

The Great Rift Valley of East Africa

The Great Rift Valley of East Africa


by Anup and Manoj Shah

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2008
  • HARD COVER
  • 144 PAGES

Award-winning wildlife photographers Anup and Manoj Shah explore the diverse wildlife and habitats along the length and breadth of the East African section of the Great Rift Valley. (EAF193, $26.95)

African Wildlife

African Wildlife


by James Kavanaugh

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 1999
  • PLASTIC CARD

Slip this laminated foldout guide in your pocket for quick reference in the field. (AFR109, $5.95)

Birds of East Africa

Birds of East Africa


by Terry Stevenson | John Fanshawe

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 602 PAGES

Compact and comprehensive, this guide to 1,388 species of birds in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi features 286 excellent color plates, range maps and notes on habitats and conservation. A veteran tour leader, co-author Stevenson lives in Kenya. (EAF92, $39.50)

Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania

Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania


by Dale Zimmerman | Donald Turner | David Pearson

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 576 PAGES

Ideal for the Serengeti, this field guide features 124 stunning color plates. (FG39, $35.00)

Kingdon Pocket Guide to African Mammals

Kingdon Pocket Guide to African Mammals


by Jonathan Kingdon

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 272 PAGES

An artist and biologist, Kingdon provides both delightful full-color illustrations and informative text. (EAF128, $24.95)

Pocket Guide to Mammals of East Africa

Pocket Guide to Mammals of East Africa


by Tilde Stuart

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 160 PAGES

Three hundred and sixty diverse species of African mammal, from elephants and antelopes, shrews and mice, get a color photograph, map, footprint and key information in this handy guide. (EAF203, $12.50)

More Recommendations

Here are some other groups of books that might be of interest

Longitude provides recommended reading for travelers in partnership with the leading tour operators and travel programs for hundreds of destinations worldwide. We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.