Game Ranger in Your Backpack: All-in-One Interpretative Guide to the Lowveld

I purchased this book right before heading to South Africa for 2 weeks volunteering on a wildlife conservation reserve. When I got there, it turned out that our wildlife monitors and most of the resident team also had this book "in their backpacks!"This book is filled with tons of easy-to-access information that was pertinent to where we were and the conservation work we were doing. It's nicely laid out into color-coded sections with many different mammals, birds, reptiles/amphibians, insects/invertebrates, and plants/trees. Full of color photos with interesting and notable information on each species and their relationship in the ecosystem. Tracking/field signs is also covered well. The Reference section and Index are easy to navigate, and the whole book is well presented and actually quite fun to look through, not dry or boring in the least.The other volunteers and I got much more than my money's worth of use from this book while out in the field. Even our guide used this book for reference a few times! It's simple, engaging and beautifully presented and has a good deal of very useful information, whether you're an amateur naturalist, a game ranger in training, or a visitor on holiday. The best thing about the book is the way it shows readers how all things are inter-related in the bush, from animals to insects to the bush itself.The only disappointment I found with the book is that it covers the White Rhino well, but only has a very short explanation and notes on the Black Rhino. Other than that, it's great and very much worth the price. It is probably the most valuable all-in-one book I've found for covering many different species and ecosystems, and by far the easiest and funnest to use.Highly recommended for anyone spending time in a bushveld or lowveld region of South Africa.

It is almost like have a Game Ranger in your backpack. The book provides many of the interesting facts and information that a game ranger would provide, as well as the core facts and information about the Lowveld. The entire book is full color with many photos and callouts that make it fun to read or reference!

I bought a copy of this for myself, and an hour after it arrived I was on-line ordering a second copy for a relative. We are both addicted to Safari Live, if I'm allowed to say that, which streams from South Africa daily. This was a wonderful reference to combine with the "drives," since it covers (literally) the same ground. The page set-ups are not your usual reference-book style, so it's very entertaining to just sit and read it, in addition to its being a great go-to book when you want to check something old or look for something new. It's all colored photos and insets with lots of fascinating bits of information that I've never seen anywhere else. As such a book should, it devotes more pages to the popular and familiar animals, but it covers all the common flora and fauna. I do think it would be a bit heavy for a backpack, but maybe I'm just feeble. Anyway, mine is on the table and there it stays unless I'm leafing through it for the umpteenth time to look-something-up or just for the fun of it. Highly recommend it to anyone interested in South African wildlife, even if--like me--they'll never get a chance to go there in person.

This is an amazing book - more, perhaps,than one can take in before meeting/observing the animals,but invaluable later.When faced with the picture/ journal that says,"What did she tell me about them/" you can have your knowledge refreshed - easily and visually. Worth the investment and then some.+

A GREAT DISPLAY OF PICTURES OF ALL ANIMALS IN THE BUSH OF SOUTH AFRICA. VERY SIMPLE AND INFORMATIVE.

Bought this after going to Lowveld but wanted to learn more about the animals. Easy reading information book

Great book, Lots of detail. Well laid out, easy to find material to confirm animals, birds etc.

Great book for young and old alike. Gave me just what I wanted and needed. Very accurate as the guides I had in South Africa and Swaziland said the same things.