Product Description

Bradt's fully illustrated wildlife guides focus on regions of the world particularly celebrated for their amazing and often unique species. With spectacular photography or exclusive watercolour drawings throughout, each visitors' guide provides an introduction to the region's principal flora and fauna alongside suggested wildlife itineraries, practical information on when to go and what to take, and photography tips. Written in a deliberately engaging way, they offer something different from dry field guides, and will appeal to the interested layman as much as the wildlife devotee. Ideal as a lightweight companion to any wildlife trip they also make a handsome souvenir.
Beautifully illustrated with full-colour photographs throughout, Madagascar Wildlife is a celebration of the unique fauna of this remarkable island. Featuring over 250 species, from lemurs to millipedes, this guide is ideal for natural history enthusiasts and travellers alike. Also included is practical advice on visiting the key national parks and reserves plus special features on the evolution of Madagascar's fauna, camouflage, the country at night, conservation, and practical tips for wildlife watching and photography.
* Fully updated and expanded to show the changes that have taken place in Madagascar, both in conservation successes and in the discovery of new species * Over 250 colour photographs -- the vast majority of which are new * Practical tips for wildlife watching and photography * Madagascar was voted the 2nd most exciting destination by readers of Wanderlust magazine

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #82716 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Review
'Bradt Travel Guides simply have the best wildlife coverage of any of the popular guide books.' --BBC Wildlife

'Informative and reader friendly...the photographs are of outstanding quality.' --African Wildlife

'Beautifully illustrated.' --Tribune, San Diego

From the Author
Not just fluffy lemurs!
Compiling this book was pure pleasure! To take the most exciting feature of my favourite country, select the finest photos available, and have Madophiles of the calibre of Nick Garbutt and Derek Schuurman as my co-authors hardly felt like work. We set out to bring the wildlife of Madagascar to the attention of the growing number of visitors to that island in a form that was both entertaining and informative. It was not just fluffy lemurs we wanted to describe - I can well remember delaying publication until I'd returned to the rainforest to get a photograph of a hitherto unavailable subject: a leech happily feeding on Bradt blood!

About the Author
Hilary Bradt is the founder of Bradt Travel Guides. As an author, lecturer and tour leader, she has visited Madagascar on more than 20 occasions. Nick Garbutt is a zoology graduate with a special interest in Madagascar, making numerous visits to investigate and photograph the island's natural history and to lead wildlife tours. His photographs have been highly commended in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. Derek Schuurman is a keen naturalist working for Rainbow Tours who specialise in Madagascar.

Customer Reviews

Beautiful but Basic Overview
This book is certainly very pretty, with excellent photographs.
It is also thin and light-weight, and does cover a little bit of everything: habitats, recommended sites to visit, mammals, birds, reptiles and insects.
As such, it is an inspiring read, and probably the best single-volume book to carry for those who only have a superficial interest in Madagadcar's unique wildlife.

However, for more serious naturalists the information it offers is far too limited. Even mammals, the best detailed group, are only discussed down to genus level, neither mentioning nor illustrating all or even most species. Birds receive a token coverage of 10 pages, and reptiles fare little better.
Even the descriptions of nature reserves can be found in the more recent, excellent and complete field guides to the "Mammals of Madagascar: A Complete Guide" which actually tells you where to spot every single species separately, and the similarly brilliant "Birds of the Indian Ocean Islands" which not only covers all the birds of Madagascar, but those of neighbouring islands too, along with recommended birdwatching sites. Fans of herpetofauna should try and get hold of "A Field Guide to the Amphibians & Reptiles of Madagascar".
If you buy any of the above field guides, you will find this book a waste of money - I did.

Madagascar Wildlife
Very well written review giving all the essential details for anyone visiting Madagascar. Excellent photographs

wonderful
Beautifully produced and illustrated with Nick's wonderful photos and drawings, and his authoritative text, yet portable and a great travelling companion