Swahili (Lonely Planet Phrasebooks)
 

Has anyone used this phrasebook and if so how did you like it?
I have been trying to decide on a guide book(s) and while looking through some, I stumbled upon this phrase book and thought may be it would be handy.
I have just made my final payment for my September trip to Kenya and Tanzania trip and I have scoured these forums for good information. There's so much information that I feel like I rarely end up having to ask my own questions, so thanks to all who contribute and let me know if anyone has used this?
Thanks

I have looked through the book but did not purchase it for the simple reason that it was much more than we needed. When we self-drove through Kenya and Tanzania in August 2009, we found that most people speak English fluently. Even in the remotest villages, we were able to communicate with the locals. With their sometimes limited (but most often excellent) English, our smattering of Swahili, many hand gestures and plenty of smiles, we always managed to get by. Before our trip, we looked up some basic Swahili words and phrases online, and I wrote them in the back of my journal - obvious phrases such as "Good morning", "How are you?", "Thank you!" and the all important "May I take your picture?". The words/phrases were never really needed - people almost always spoke English but, out of respect, we wanted to greet/thank the villagers/our guides in their language. It was clear that the effort was always appreciated. You may also want to learn a few Maa words/phrases as well - for the Masai. Robin

Have a look at this thread:

http://www.fodors.com/community/afri...-our-trip.cfm#

Thanks for that info and link - that is what I am looking for. I really only want to learn a little bit to be anle to greet people and such but I thought I might need a little more. I'll start to make my list of things I want to say and then go and find the translation (I really don't need another thing to carry around).
Now to settle on a guide book(s).
Thanks

The Bradt Guide to Tanzania is excellent, the best I found (and I looked at several), and the Rough Guide to Kenya is very good. If Bradt comes out with a guide for Kenya, I would buy it - I find the Bradt Guides to be the best. Robin

Here is the Bradt website:

http://www.bradt-travelguides.com/

Robin, Bradt has a Kenya guide but it's old (2004?). And I agree, they're excellent guide books.

Robin - I should have mentioned that I'm really looking for a field guide book that lists the wildlife we will see. I did see that Bradt had one but I've seen a few others that I think are as good as well.
I am considering the National Audubon Society's Field Guide to African Wildlife and have had suggested to me the Field Guide to Birds of East Africa by Stevenson & Fanshawe.
I can get these on Amazon at a decent price but I can't find anywhere locally that has a few different books that I can look at before buying (AH - the good old days before buyng everything online!!!!)

We used Birds of East Africa by Terry Stevenson and John Fanshawe, which we ordered from Amazon - it is excellent, although it doesn't have a bird checklist in the back of the book. We printed one off a birding website.

We also took the Field Guide to Mammals of Southern Africa by Chris and Tilde Stuart, which had everything but some of the antelopes.

We also have, but didn't take, (too much weight in books!) Southern African Wildlife: A Visitor's Guise by Mike Unwin - some lovely photos and good info. Robin