Product Description

This guide to West Africa has sections capturing the region's vibrant arts and people, an introduction to the sounds and rhythms of West Africa's music, and a guide to the region's main languages.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #357184 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 896 pages

Ingram
From cosmopolitan Dakar to remote Timbuktu, this thoroughly revised guide to West Africa covers destinations on and off the tourist trail, accommodation, restaurant, and transporation options for every range of budget, cultural information, and more. Includes a useful language section with glossaries of frequently-used terms and a 32-page color section. 160 maps.

About the Author
A Lonely Planet Regional Guide.

Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet West Africa
A beautiful travel book on West Africa . It gives one a good idea of the counties, of west Africa Africa, ie their ethnic compositions, flora and fauna and physical features. Highly recommended.Also enjoyed reading The Usurper and Other Stories, Mango Elephants in the Sun, Triple Agent Double Cross,The old man and the medal,Nervous Conditions, Shake hands with the Devil, Disciples of Fortune. They gave me a better understanding and pulse of the region and Africa at large.

From a returned Peace Corps Volunteer
This book is practically the bible for W. Africa travel. I lived and worked in W. Africa for 3 years (2 years as a Peace Corps volunteer) and I never went anywhere without consulting LP. The information is as accurate as anything out there. It offers you suggested itineraries and "off the beaten path" suggestions as well as the traditionally touristy destinations. Many parts are less objective than other parts and the writers tend to harp on corruption. But W. Africa is a pretty corrupt place in general. If you don't like the editorial sections, skip 'em, the info you need is still there.

SMEARED BY DEROGATORY PHRASES
Indeed, this book ("Lonely Planet West Africa") did a good job in outlining many of the popular tourist attractions that are located in this Sub-Saharan region of Africa. I also appreciated its details on several tourists' trails, accomodations, means of transportation, and so on. However, I was very disappointed to note that (just like the "Lonely Planet Africa on a Shoestring") this book is full of discouraging comments. Some of the phrases Lonely Planet used in this book are quite offensive.
For sure, most foreigners who travel to (West) African countries are not expecting to see a paradise, but that does not mean that there is no better way of presenting real and imaginary negative thoughts. This book is smeared by terms and phrases, which I consider derogatory to both (West) Africa and (West) Africans. As a result of this, I will never recommend it to anyone until there is a change of heart by Lonely Planet in subsequent editions.