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Top 20 African Books

Author: PJ Duning

Following his article in our last newsletter (An African plea for visitors, not aid) we asked lodge manager and former guide, PJ Dunning, about his favorite Africa books. Here are his choices.

My friends at Aardvark have asked me to list my twenty favorite books on Africa for this newsletter.

Selecting my twenty favorite books on Africa for this newsletter is a true labour of love, for I have always been a passionate reader and collector of books, especially about Africa.

A couple of provisos; there are no works of fiction listed below, mainly because I haven’t read fiction for ages. These true stories of real people, events and landscapes seem to me infinitely better than any story the greatest novelist could dream up. There are also, sadly, no books by black Africans in my top twenty. I make no apologies for this omission, this is, after all, just a personal list reflecting one man’s judgment and taste.

The books I have chosen are mostly about East and Southern Africa, but this is not always the case. It seems that, for various reasons, the literary tradition in these parts is older and stronger than in other parts of the continent. When I look at the list I see that there’s an unintended but good balance of wildlife, tribes, history and politics.

I would be delighted to receive suggestions of other great books on Africa from readers of this newsletter. (emails can be passed to me via Aardvarks email address: mail@aardvarksafaris.com) The books are in no particular order.

The Lost World of the Kalahari by Laurens van der Post. Harvest

One of the classic explorer books on Botswana, written in the mystical style for which he later became famous. Along with “The Harmless People” by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, it provides the truest look at the San peoples as they were and will tragically no more be.

The Africans by David Lamb. Random House. 1982

Lamb’s book is long out of date in terms of current affairs, but it has become an African standard for very good reasons. It’s a realistic but sympathetic look at the state of the continent twenty years ago, perhaps even more interesting now than when it was written.

The Great Safari - The lives of George and Joy Adamson by Adrian House. Harvill 1993

This is a beautifully written story of two flawed but amazing characters and their love affair with East Africa. It’s fantastic holiday reading, full of atmosphere and humanity.

Portraits in the Wild - Animal Behaviour in East Africa by Cynthia Moss. University of Chicago Press. 1982

Cynthia Moss’s first book is easier to read and way more interesting than any field guide written since. Required reading on a Kenyan or Tanzanian safari, for fascinating insights into the lives of a selected group of mammals.

Elephant Memories by Cynthia Moss. Fontana 1989

The definitive guide to elephants and their lives, by a woman who got to know them better than perhaps anyone before or since.

A Primate's Memoir by Robert M. Sapolsky. Johnathon Cape 2001

Sapolsky lived in Kenya for a few years studying a troop of baboons, but this book is about much more than that. It is a very funny, acutely clever story of Africa seen through the eyes of a young American.

Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa by Mungo Park. Duke University Press 2000

Mungo Park was the first of the legendary African explorers to write about his travels to wide acclaim. Burton and Stanley’s safari memoirs can be ponderously scientific and dry, but Park’s tales of his travels to find the source of the Niger are riveting. I was continually struck by how brave this young Scottish doctor was, despite his unassuming style.

The Zanzibar Chest by Aidan Hartley. Harper Collins 2003

This is one of the very best of a crop of recent books by new authors on Africa. He has written a very fine account of growing up in Kenya, and his life as a journalist through some of the more grisly episodes of recent African history.

Serengeti Shall Not Die by Bernard and Michael Grzimek. Hamish Hamilton 1960

An oldie, but such a goodie. This story of a father and son from Germany pioneering game conservation in the Serengeti is a deserved classic. The Tanzanian government and people still hold their work in the highest regard, and there is a headstone on the Ngorongoro Crater rim in their honor.

The Mountain People by Colin M. Turnbull. Touchstone Simon & Schuster 1987 (first published 1972).

Turnbull wrote “The Forest People” about the pygmies, and this one about the Ik, a small tribe living in Eastern Uganda. He was a trained social anthropologist, but this book is no dry scientific thesis. It is a strange, dark and disturbing tale of a tribe struggling to maintain their very existence.

Mukiwa by Peter Godwin. Picador 1996

Peter Godwin’s book of growing up in Zimbabwe is here because he tells my story, and tells it so well.

Africa - A biography of the continent by John Reader. Penguin 1997

Huge in its scope and vision, this book is the perfect introduction to Africa for those looking for information on just about everything. I doubt it will be bettered.

Travels in West Africa by Mary Kingsley. Phoenix Press 2000

Mary Kingsley’s account of her journeys in West Africa in the 1890’s, when it truly was the White Man’s Grave, is absolutely the best of its kind, made all the more fascinating because it’s written by an extraordinary woman way ahead of her time.

The Innocent Anthropologist by Nigel Barley. Penguin 1986

This should have been a best seller. Nigel Barley’s short account of his time with a small tribe in Cameroon is one of the funniest books I’ve ever read. The sequel, “A Plague of Caterpillars”, is sadly not nearly as good.

Fantastic Invasion - Dispatches from Africa by Patrick Marnham. Penguin 1987

A wonderful, whimsical book of vignettes from travels in post independent Africa, ranging from country to country. Marnham has a superbly dry style, and this is educated, thought-provoking travel writing at its best.

The Flame Trees of Thika by Elspeth Huxley. Pimlico 1998

This childhood memoir of growing up in Kenya is a beautifully written and acutely observed insight into that time in that country. Perfect safari reading.

Eating Apes by Dale Peterson. University of California Press 2003

The best account of our large ape brothers and sisters, and the effects of the bush meat trade on their genuinely precarious future. Not for the faint hearted.

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller. Random House 2001

Alexandra Fuller’s first and best book is another sentimental favorite of mine. It is an astonishingly honest account of growing up in southern Africa with a rather strange family through turbulent times. She writes like a dream.

The Tree where Man was Born by Peter Matthiessen. Picador 1984

In my opinion this is perhaps the best nature writing ever written about anywhere. This Buddhist American captures the beauty of remote Africa in a unique and compelling way.

The State of Africa by Martin Meredith. Johnathon Ball 2005.

Martin Meredith has a long history of working and reporting in Africa and I loved this panoramic assessment of where the continent is right now. It’s full of facts but is always fair, readable and engaging.

Many of the above books are still in print at you should be able to find the rest on www.amazon.co.uk or www.amazon.com.



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