[.ca] Rough Guide West Africa 4e (ISBN 1843531186)

Not the best investment:
At the moment, there are two main contenders on the market with comparable books on West Africa: Rough Guide and Lonely Planet. Neither is perfect. Rough Guide may feel a bit more professionally-made, and has been made on a bigger budget too, but it suffers from terminally boring writing style. I said this before and I`ll say it again: if people who write guidance for your tax returns were to write guidebooks they would probably come up with similarly uninspired language. The book does not offer the same level of self-righteous (and often annoying) rhetoric about evils of capitalism as Lonely Planet. I find this aspect commendable: some of us want the travel guide to give us facts and not explanations for whom to vote and what to think. However, on balance, I have to admit that Lonely Planet is better resarched and more accurate, and also less bulky. If you have plenty of luggage allowance and money's no object, buy both, otherwise, stick with Lonely Planet.

Necessary but not sufficient:
This Rough Guide offers thorough, helpful information for travelling around West Africa, including events, hotels, restaraunts, cutoms, traditions, safety precautions, language reference, etc. I especially liked the fact that each time CFA's or other currency were mentioned, their dollar equivalents were also calculated. The Lonely Planet Guide does not do this. Also, this Rough Guide is organized better and easier to read than the Lonely Planet. The problem with the Rough Guide, though, is that while it gives all the necessary information to get around, it does not offer any subjective advice that the naive West Africa traveller would want to know. For example, The Lonely Planet guide gives the same information as this book about a campsite in Niamey, but adds that it is ugly, with few trees, and many people have been robbed there. That is something I want to know. I certainly found all the necessary information in this guide, but it is still insufficient in many ways.

Interesting but not so relevant:
Yes, this is an interesting guide. If you are either an adventurer and/or an armchair traveller, by all means try it out ! Yet, this is not the kind of book it clams to be, namely a travel guide. Few people would find it relevant to their travel plans while in Africa. If you want advice from Lonely Planet, who published this book, then get their other book "Lonely Planet West Africa", much more thorough and relevant for most travellers.

Decent But Not Great:
The Rough Guide series is nice, if sometimes odd, for understanding what to do and what not to do in particular countries or regions. Usually, its best to get both Rough Guide and Lonely Plaent and compared the information between the two, just to avoid any unfortunate occurances. But thats just me. Anyway, this book basically covers travel in West Africa: Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Senegal, the Gambia, Cabo Verde, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon. Theres basic travel information, as well as notes for getting into and out of each country, and things you can do while your there. Maps, religious information, notes on social mores, currency info, food and so forth are all covered throughout the book. There are also some useful phrases in French (the most widely spoken language in West Africa), as well as some phrases in Hassaniya Arabic, Mandinka, Bamana, Twi, Susu, Hausa, Yoruba and other indigenous languages. Fans of Afro-Pop should check out the back of this book, which is full of cultural references. There are lists of significant books, movies, musicians and songs. Sure, it is a bit dated, but some old favorites are included on the list who are well worth checking out. In fact, I should restate that, given the mercurial nature of African society, it is pretty likely that many things in this book have changed since it was published. Before doing anything in this book, you might want to look it up online or something first.