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Animals of the Serengeti – book review

Animals of the Serengeti: And Ngorongoro Conservation Area by Adam Scott Kennedy and Vicki Kennedy is an easy-to-use guidebook that is also very readable. The region covered by the book is the Greater Serengeti area bounded in the west by Lake Victoria and the east by Lake Manyara in Tanzania, and in the north by southern Kenya.



Animals of the Serengeti: And Ngorongoro Conservation Area is designed for the traveller. The book is lightweight with each page filled with pictures and brief scientific explanations for each animal.


Still, what I find most intriguing about the book, which I also think you will also enjoy, is the incorporation of short first-hand stories told by local guides. These are the individuals with years of expertise in supporting conservation in the region. They also form the cultural backbone of local community efforts to conserve life within the boundaries of the local ecosystems. These guides tell wonderful anecdotal—and sometimes hilarious—stories about the local fauna.



Following up on the publication of their Animals of the Masai Mara and Birds of the Masai Mara, and published in conjunction with their Birds of the Serengeti: And Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Animals of the Serengeti: And Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a great read. Reading the guidebook, you get a real sense of the how the coauthors have built their life’s passion into a full-time career that positively impacts conservation. The work they do and the guidebooks they write are inspiring.







How to order:



Paperback: Animals of the Serengeti: And Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Authors: Adam Scott Kennedy and Vicki Kennedy

ISBN: 9780691159089







Gabriel Thoumi is a frequent contributor to Mongabay.com. He is an Affiliated Researcher at the Conservation Management Institute at Virginia Tech.










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