29 of 30 people found the following review helpful
An excellent travel companion,
March 18, 2002 "hassnick" (Madison, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Lonely Planet Tanzania, Zanzibar & Pemba (Paperback)
The Lonely Planet produces excellent travel guides, and their Tanzania/Zanzibar edition is no exception. I have used this book on four different trips, and found it indispensible. The guide does an admirable job describing the popular tourist stops (the game parks, Zanzibar's Stone Town, etc.), but its real strength lies in giving the details necessary to take the roads less travelled. I have found the hotel prices in the guide to be remarkably accurate, though naturally some things have changed. The "getting there and away" sections provide options for transportation to and from cities and towns; while the range of alternatives generally stays the same, departure times and prices can change drastically. Always plan on things taking longer than you expect.Tanzania and Zanzibar are amazing places to visit, and the Lonely Planet will give you the means to make the most of your trip.
26 of 28 people found the following review helpful
zanzibar,
March 26, 2000 By A Customer
This review is from: Lonely Planet Tanzania, Zanzibar & Pemba (Paperback)
We are a couple of divers and we decided to go to Zanzibar for diving holidays. We took the book with us and the only thing we can say is - it's a bible for budget travelers. There are some excellent recommendations about the overnights and good restaurants. The prices in the book were fairly accurate. Important thing was that it gave us a good start in bargening. The only thing this book was lacking was some more info on island pemba.
25 of 27 people found the following review helpful
The book is full of errors,
July 27, 2008 Torstein (Norway) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Lonely Planet Tanzania (Country Travel Guide) (Paperback)
This is one of the worst editions of Lonely Planet books I've ever read.
The book is full of factual errors which probably is a result of poor research. I doubt that the researcher actually have been at some of the places, and that he has copied information from the Internet instead.
I traveled this summer in Tanzania, and ran into errors in this guidebook time and again. The Rough Guide was far more accurate, even though that book is two years older.
I can accept that phone numbers are wrong, given the constantly expansion and changes in the Tanzanian mobile phone system, but addresses should be right most of the time.
Further more, I can accept that travel times can't be relied upon as accurate in Africa, but if the journalist had actually travelled the distanses himself, he would have noticed things like:
Travel times for bus companies are given to the region, not necessarily the city it self. That can mean a lot of difference...Read more
(18 customer reviews)