What to Books to Read on Safari (And Why It Changes the Trip)
If you’re a bookworm (and a few of us on the Good Earth Tours team very much are), this list is
for you.
These are twelve books our team has recommended so many times we’ve lost count. Some are
summer classics you’ve probably heard of. Some are complete surprises that have no obvious
reason to be on a safari reading list and end up being the most-talked-about titles of the trip. All
twelve have rightfully earned their place in your carry-on.
We hear it from travelers who’ve read one of these on the flight over, during a quiet afternoon at
camp, or even in the weeks after coming home: the context changes what you actually saw.
Going on safari is one thing. Going on safari with context is another. This is the list, starting at
number twelve.
12: The Tree Where Man Was Born
Peter Matthiessen ★★★★ Summer Surprise
Long-form essays about East Africa written after Matthiessen traveled through Tanzania,
Uganda, and Kenya in the early 1970s. Not a narrative, it is meditative, slow, and attentive to
the land in a way most writing about Africa is not. Best for someone who has already been, or is
about to return, and wants to spend time with a landscape that stays with them.
11: A Lion Called Christian
Ace Bourke and John Rendall ★★★★ Summer Surprise
In 1969, two Australians bought a lion cub from Harrods in London and raised him in Chelsea
before working with conservationist George Adamson to return him to the wild in Kenya. The
reunion footage from years later has been watched more than fifty million times. Most people
know the video. Most have not read the book. It is short, accessible, and warm. A good choice
for a travel day or the flight home.
10: Cry of the Kalahari
Mark and Delia Owens ★★★★ Summer Surprise
A young couple with no funding and almost no experience drove to the Central Kalahari in
Botswana and camped there for seven years to study brown hyenas and lions. Equal parts
adventure story and genuine wildlife research. If your itinerary includes Botswana, this one
belongs on the list.
9: Elephant Memories
Cynthia Moss ★★★★ Summer Surprise
Moss spent thirteen years following the same elephant families in Amboseli National Park in
Kenya. More scientific than The Elephant Whisperer but no less moving. The naming system
she developed for the families makes each elephant feel like someone you have actually met.
For anyone who wants to understand elephant social structure before a game drive, this is the
most thorough source on the list.
8: Born Free
Joy Adamson ★★★★ Summer Classic
The story of Elsa the lioness, raised by Adamson and her game warden husband in Kenya and
eventually returned to the wild. Published in 1960 and written in a style that reflects that era, it is
still one of the books that started the modern conservation conversation. A classic for a reason.
7: Out of Africa
Karen Blixen ★★★★ Summer Classic
One of the most beautifully written accounts of the African landscape in the English language,
and a product of its era. Colonial Kenya as seen by a European landowner, and that context is
worth holding while you read. The descriptions of the land and wildlife are unlike anything else
on this list.
6: Gorillas in the Mist
Dian Fossey ★★★★★ Summer Classic
Fossey spent eighteen years living in the Virunga mountains of Rwanda, studying mountain
gorillas with a patience that is hard to understand from the outside. Precise and detailed in the
way only someone with thousands of hours of direct observation can be. If you are planning a
gorilla trek in Rwanda or Uganda, this is essential reading.
5: Serengeti Shall Not Die
Bernhard Grzimek ★★★★ Summer Classic
In the 1950s, Bernhard Grzimek and his son Michael painted their small plane in black and
white stripes and flew survey missions over the Serengeti to count wildlife and document the
ecosystem. The book that came from it helped make the case for establishing the Serengeti as
a protected national park. If you’re going to the Serengeti, this book gives you the history
underneath the landscape.
4: West with the Night
Beryl Markham ★★★★★ Summer Surprise
Beryl Markham grew up in Kenya in the early 1900s, trained racehorses, and eventually
became one of the first licensed bush pilots in East Africa. This memoir covers all of it, in prose
so good that Ernest Hemingway reportedly said it made him feel ashamed of his own writing.
Most travelers who read it had never heard of it before. Most of them recommend it to someone
else within a week of finishing.
3: The Book of Hope
Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams ★★★★ Summer Classic
Jane Goodall spent decades at Gombe Stream in Tanzania studying chimpanzees and has
spent much of her life since working on conservation. The Book of Hope is a conversation
between Goodall and coauthor Douglas Abrams about how to stay hopeful when the
environmental news is relentless. A direct answer to a question many people who care about
wildlife are quietly asking.
2: A Primate’s Memoir
Robert Sapolsky ★★★★★ Summer Surprise
Robert Sapolsky is a Stanford neurobiologist who spent more than twenty years living with a
baboon troop in the Masai Mara region of Kenya. A Primate’s Memoir is funnier than a book
about baboon stress physiology has any right to be, and genuinely moving by the end. The
wildcard pick on our list: the one people are most skeptical about and most glad they read.
1: The Elephant Whisperer
Lawrence Anthony ★★★★★ Summer Classic
Lawrence Anthony agreed to take in a herd of traumatized “rogue” elephants that no other
reserve would accept. What followed at his Thula Thula game reserve in South Africa is equal
parts wildlife conservation story and something harder to explain: the gradual development of
trust between a man and a species that had every reason not to trust humans. Read it before
any elephant encounter and you will not watch a herd the same way again. The most
recommended book on this list, and it isn’t close.
When to Read Each One
A few notes on timing, since some of these work better at different points in the trip.
Before you go: Serengeti Shall Not Die (history and context for the landscape you’ll drive
through)
Gorillas in the Mist (essential before any gorilla trek)
Elephant Memories or The Elephant Whisperer (changes what you look for on game drives)
The Book of Hope (useful framing if conservation is a meaningful part of your trip).
On the flight or during the trip: West with the Night reads in a single sitting and your arrival in
East Africa will feel different after it.
A Primate’s Memoir is hard to put down.
Born Free and A Lion Called Christian are lighter reads, good for travel days between camps.
After you come back: Out of Africa will mean more having actually seen the landscape.
The Tree Where Man Was Born is for sitting with the memory of a place that stays with you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to read anything before my safari?
No requirement, and there’s no test once you arrive. That said, some of us are just bookworms,
and if you’re one of them, having a little context genuinely changes what you notice on the
ground. Even one book from this list tends to make a difference in how you interpret what you’re
seeing.
Are any of these appropriate for teenagers or older kids?
A Primate’s Memoir and A Lion Called Christian are both accessible for older teenagers. Born
Free works well for younger readers. Gorillas in the Mist and The Elephant Whisperer are
suitable for motivated teen readers with a genuine interest in wildlife.
Is The Book of Hope too heavy or depressing?
Not at all. The whole book is structured around reasons to stay engaged rather than give up. It
is one of the more genuinely hopeful books on conservation we’ve read. The subtitle is A
Survival Guide for Trying Times, which is about right.
Where can I find these books?
Most are available as audiobooks, which work well on the flight over. For physical copies,
they’re widely stocked in bookstores. We’d also suggest checking ThriftBooks (thriftbooks.com)
for secondhand copies: cheaper for you, slightly better for the planet.
Are there books about Africa and safari written by African authors?
Most of the wildlife and safari books in wide circulation were written by Western researchers and
conservationists, which is worth noting. Abdulrazak Gurnah, who won the Nobel Prize in
Literature in 2021, was born in Zanzibar and his novel Paradise is set in colonial-era mainland
Tanzania. Literary fiction rather than safari writing, but it is the most acclaimed work set in
Tanzania written by someone who is actually from there.
Planning a Safari?
Good Earth Tours plans custom safaris across Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa,
Botswana, and beyond. Every itinerary is built around how you actually travel, not around what’s
easiest to book. If any of these books have you thinking about going, our team is here for that
conversation.
Start planning your safari or explore our Tanzania safari options to see what a custom itinerary
looks like.
