here is a huge amount of excellent reading material about East Africa; basic background knowledge will increase your holiday enjoyment. Here are our favorite suggestions:

Light reading to provide an introduction to the area include:

1. Nine Faces of Kenya complied by Elspeth Huxley (introductory primer to East African history and settlement)
2. Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen (autobiography)
3. Flame Trees of Thika by Elspeth Huxley (autobiography)
4. Man-eaters of Tsavo by Colonel Patterson (autobiography)
5. Kenya - The First Explorers by Nigel Pavitt (biography)
6. I Dreamed of Africa by Kuki Gallman (autobiography)
7. White Mischief by James Fox (biography)
8. Happy Valley, The History of the English in Kenya by Nicholas Best (history)
9. West with the Night by Beryl Markham (autobiography)
10. Silence will Speak by Errol Trzebinski (biography)
11. Kenya Cowboy by Peter Hewitt (autobiography)
12. Africa, A Biography of the Continent by John Reader

Popular books published by well-known animal researchers include:

1. Among the Elephants by Iain Douglas-Hamilton (Northern Kenya)
2. Elephant Memories by Cynthia Moss (Amboseli, Kenya)
3. The Serengeti Lion by George Schaller (Serengeti, Tanzania)
4. Portraits of the Wild by Cynthia Moss (Amboseli, Kenya)
5. Solo, An African Wild Dog by Hugo Van Lawick (Serengeti, Tanzania)
6. Coming of Age with Elephants by Joyce Poole (Amboseli, Kenya)
7. Through a Window by Jane Goodall (Chimpanzees, Tanzania)

Popular books published by well-known animal researchers include:

1. The Peoples of Kenya by Joy Adamson
2. Vanishing Africa by Mirella Ricciardi

Field Guides: (Light-weight for traveling)

1. The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals by Jonathon Kingdon. Published by Academic Press, San Francisco.
2. A Field Guide of the Larger Mammals of Africa by Jean Dorst and Pierre Dandelot. Published by Collins, London.
3. Wild Flowers of East Africa by Michael Blundell. Published by Collins, London.
4. A Field Guide to the National Parks of East Africa by John G. Williams and Norman Arlott. Published by Collins, London
5. A Field Guide to the Birds of East Africa by John G. Williams and Norman Arlott. Published by Collins, London.