Paper travel guide for South Africa

Hi, We’re going on a guided trip to South Africa. I’d love to know which guidebook is the most interesting: Routard, Lonely Planet, Michelin, Guide Vert, or Hachette’s Guide Voir. Thanks so much for your advice. Marie

Hi,

A wildlife guide would be more useful for you.

Personally, I often use the *Green Guides*. The *Neos* (if you can find one...) was really good. These guides have a stronger cultural focus.

No need to lug around a *Routard* guide.

As for *Lonely Planet*, they’re just a shadow of what they used to be.

Wishing you an amazing trip! !

Thanks for your reply.

Hi there,

I really love Bradt guides, but they only exist in Shakespeare’s language!!!

https://www.bradtguides.com/product/southern-african-wildlife-3/

Otherwise, the internet is an endless resource—including this forum ;) Happy planning! Loïc

Yes, I can confirm that for Southern Africa, you won't find anything better than Bradt guides in my opinion (we used them in Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, etc.)!

Best regards, Philippe

I think this series is only available in English, right?

Also, from what I remember, these guides have lots of practical info. Great for a self-organized independent trip, but not very useful for an organized tour like the one here.

True, Bradt guides are only in English... And I totally agree: they might be a bit superfluous for an organized trip, given the amount of detailed info on lodges and other accommodations :-). Though they always start with a few "general tourist info" chapters.

On the other hand, they have, for example, a book on Southern African wildlife (https://www.bradtguides.com/product/southern-african-wildlife-3/), and another for East Africa. But for that, you’d have other options (often specialized in a region, or even a park—like for Kruger or Moremi—the "Shell" guides by Veronica Roodt, especially for Botswana’s parks).

Philippe,

Hi, There’s also a small guide on the main mammals you can spot in these parks. You can find it here:

https://www.thebookedition.com/fr/l-essentiel-des-mammiferes-sud-afrique-p-408959.html

It’s entirely in French and pocket-sized. It even includes animal sounds via QR code!

A new edition of this little French guide just came out: https://www.thebookedition.com/fr/l-essentiel-des-mammiferes-sud-afrique-p-427911.html