Two summers ago we went into Seychelles, and Mauritius,Reunion& Seychelles LP travel guide was essential for us. Thanks to it, we could discover Seychelles was not just a diving and incredible beaches paradise, but its interiors landscapes were the best of our journey. We recomend it,because its fantastic information about Mahe,Praslin and La Digue islands, their national parks (such as Sainte Anne or Vallee de Mai). Prices were as high as the author wrote! and all information about public buses, rent-a-car and restaurants was right. Just one thing, we couldn't find where La Gogue Reservoir was! If anybody can strength the lake exists, please let us know!!

This guide was my Bible while I traveled through Mahe and Praslin islands in 1999. The Seychelles are full of kind, open-hearted locals who are generous and more than willing to show Westerners around. My trusty LP guide helped me find several reasonable b&b's, Michael Adams' studio (wonderful local artist) and the most perfect beaches in the Indian Ocean. What I love about LP guides, and this one in particular, is the extensive history of the area the book is covering, as well as the locals' interests. Those intending to visit this incredible area should take this guide book - the photography alone will tempt anyone.

I used an earlier edition of this book on a trip in 1996, in which I visited the Seychelles, Mauritius, and Reunion. I was travelling independently (not as part of a package tour) and the book helped in many ways to make my trip a great one. It provides a wealth of information about hotels and restaurants, island culture, and places and things to see on the islands. If you can only visit one of these three islands, I would recommend the Seychelles, which offer some of the finest tropical scenery I have ever seen. One advantage of Mauritius for the budget-minded traveler is that it is considerably less expensive than the Seychelles.

First of all, let me confess - I am an armchair traveller with respect to the Indian Ocean! Still saving up my few bob to go to some of the wonderful places mentioned in this book.

The book is amazingly detailed, especially in detailing the culture and history of the islands, and very readable.

My only criticism is that more photos would have been better!

When i first read this book i thought, nahh this ain't for me but then i met the writer himself at music college.
He skanked me for my money but he seemed safe as so i read his book.
He basically talks a lot about the Indian revolution and i am very interested in that.
Even though the book is titled "government and politics in Mauritius" it is actually about AJ'S life in the ghetto's of India, and the revolution.

The Rape of Sita tells the story a rape through a man, a story-teller in the story. Heavily political, this book deals with issue of rape and the atmosphere of fear in every society. (Is it right for a woman to stay over at a male acquaintance's house alone? If, because of that, a woman is raped, whose fault is it? Why is it that we are so ashamed to talk about being raped?) The book will tell you things you probably already know, but succeeds brilliantly in jolting it into the conscious mind. A urgent call for action and change in attitude, it challages the belief that rape is an act usually directed at women. She deconstructs rape to become only an idea: a notion of the strong conquering the weak; it takes place even before the penetration. Its lyrical and tight prose provides good respite from its heavy content, and really, by its own merit, worth a read. However, the true beauty of its book lies in its courage to challenge, and its ability to bring about change.

The short stories appear to have life within themselves on the quiet and distant island of Mauritius. Simple people leading a life of their own that tends to be disappearing gradually. Yet, their characters are so interesting. Fishermen and village people, living on a paradise island surrounded by coral reefs. Those people do bring smile, sadness and laughter.

Hanna Sommerfiled, the protaganist of this book is certainly among the most unforgettable characters I have ever read.

A book that had my jaw dropped, a book I could not put down. Maureen Earl has written a book of such power, such poignancy, and a book that everyone should read.

This is an important book, showing the triumph of human nature. The sheer grit of this story is amazing.

This little known history of WW11 is written with extreme sensitivity by Maureen Earl. Her ability to knit fact with fiction, and her seamless story telling, passing back and forth in time, is executed with true grace and talent. I heartily recommend this book for all. It's high time this story was brought to light. Set in Europe, then on the ill fated ship, the SS Atlantic, the book tells the true story of the British imprisoning desperate refugees on a tropical island off the east coast of Africa. The amazing turns in this story are due to Ms Earl's exceptional writing. That we are able to laugh while reading this book is a credit to the author and the unforgettable Hanna Sommerfield, the main character of this remarkable book. Five Stars.

I read this book after reading Maureen Earl's earlier book, GULLIVER QUICK. I was really not prepared for the power that I found in BOAT OF STONE. Ms Earl has written a book that is both important and enormously gripping. That the book is based on a real story only makes it more amazing. This is a book that will survive into the ages, a must read.

"The Mauritius Command", the fourth in the Aubrey/Maturin series of novels written by Patrick O'Brian, shows Captain "Lucky Jack" Aubrey several years after the events chronicled in "H.M.S. Surprise" in wedded bliss, but alas, without much of a fortune to support his growing family. Indeed, he is no longer on active command, but a Royal Navy captain on half pay. Stephen Maturin arrives bearing salvation in the form of a special mission to the Indian Ocean, along with Aubrey's temporary promotion to Commodore in command of a small squadron. What follows is one of the most exciting installments in the entire Aubrey/Maturin saga, and the start of an extended story arc which will take their fight against Napoleonic France and its allies throughout much of the Indian Ocean and the adjoining portions of Southeast Asia. Once more Patrick O'Brian delivers the goods, with his excellent, lyrical prose that seems more at home with the likes of Jane Austen than with contemporary authors of fiction.

There is a very real sense in which "The Mauritius Command" ends Patrick O'Brian's original vision of the Jack Aubrey/Stephen Marutin series since the naval exploits detailed are historically true, the names having been changed to our hero and his particular friend. Consequently, there is a sense of completion to the mission in this novel you very rarely find after this point in the series. Since I enjoy Jane Austen I find the opening chapters to be a hysterical homage to her writing, but if you do like Austen you will just have to push through until the boys take to sea. Even if these naval engagements had not really taken place, I do appreciate the idea that Lucky Jack Aubrey is off in his own small corner doing his bit for the war against Napoleon rather than conveniently being on center stage. That is not what these books are about. As always, I issue my warning: This not Horatio Hornblower, you have to read this series in order. Enjoy.

At the end of the previous novel in the series, Jack Aubrey is returning home to England and marriage to his beloved Sophie, dreaming of the rosy future.

Here in the opening chapters of The Mauritius Command is that future, and they are some of the most sustained humorous scenes of the entire Canon. Poor Jack - marriage isn't quite what he imagined it to be!

But all too soon we are away on another cruise with Stephen Maturin, this time with a temporary promotion to Commodore, and the flying of a broad pendant to mark the fact. There's glory for you!

The bulk of the novel concerns the more or less historical campaign to win back Mauritus from the French, and it is here that I venture a word of criticism, for Patrick O'Brian bound himself a little too tightly with the actual history and has to resort to some literary strategems to keep up with the sometimes confusing action.

But that's by the by and along the way we meet some fascinating new characters, revisit some happy old ones, and spend a reasonable amount of time doing the things that make a Patrick O'Brian novel so well worth reading.

I enjoyed this book very much, hence the five star rating, for even a Patrick O'Brian book a trifle off his usual pace is a very good book indeed.

It is a good self-contained adventure, very rare in this series where a journey quite often takes four books or so to come to a conclusion, and it comes with the necessary maps at the beginning and an excellent essay on Jack Aubrey's ships at the end, including extracts from the plans of the dear old Surprise.

An excellent read and the pleasure is enhanced by the marvellous Geoff Hunt painting on the cover.

I found this to be a very helpful book for trip planning: when and where to go and getting an idea of what different kinds of safaris have to offer. A number of valuable charts regarding the best times to see certain wildlife, climate, etc. The book is a good way to narrow your choices before starting to collect brochures and get travel guides for individual countries. The coverage will not replace good field guides or travel guides---just get you ready for that stage. One caveat: I didn't care for Nolting's snobbishness about the best way to travel (I managed to see more than I might have on one of his "first class" safaris).

Now in its revised and expanded sixth edition, Africa's Top Wildlife Countries by Mark W. Nolting (who has spend more than twenty years personally exploring and researching the African continent) is a thorough and "user friendly" instructional guidebook to making the most of an African safari. Specific sections are devoted to each nation and cover top-rated or first-class accommodations, professional tours, and ecologically-friendly visits enabling the traveler to see and experience a wide variety of amazing and exotic wildlife. Enhanced with an extensively detailed planner offering the latest information on the best times to visit, what to pack, and which tours offer the most service, Africa's Top Wildlife Countries is enthusiastically recommended for anyone planning to embark on a "once-in-a-lifetime" safari adventure of their own.

If you are even thinking about embarking on an African safari, you must read this book! Not only did Mark's book convince me to go, I also used his travel agency to book my trip! This book gave me the best ideas of what countries and game parks would best suit my particular interests. It also provided many examples of different types of safari experiences: from "roughing it" to luxury. I chose to do a little of both. It was the BEST and most memorable event of my life. Mark has a way of making even the most timid traveler feel comfortable with such an adventurous trip before they even step on the plane. I even had two of my own photographs published in this edition of his book! I couldn't recommend this any more highly!

Visually this book is stunning. Informative it is. The author however finds very little of substance to say on the Dodo. The moral of the whole book is, "here are the facts but we don't really know and we can't either so there". In its attempt to be critical and parsimonious, it trips over itself in a mess of contradictions (was the Dodo grey or brown? - "it seems to have been greyish though Saftleven clearly shows the head was brown")and a script that reads like watery thin soup.

The fact of the matter is, there is a lot of background interest in the Dodo and this book does not dare to speculate on various assumptions and models that have been made of the Dodo. For example that it may have shed the tip of its bill, that it produced chicks every 2 years or on any differences between males and females of a specific nature. The paintings of the Dodo are not discussed critically in terms of authorship and attribution or history. We don't get to hear about What dodos and how many and where did any live dodos actually get to. Fuller says in one place that it is not sure if Dodo's got to England and then we are treated to a written description of the Dodo by an Englishman who saw the bird in London. Did the editors actually bother to scrutinise this writing.

In the end, the book is more like a log of evidence and we are left to pick out our own picture for ourselves. The author has very little conscious, critical or thought provoking to say.

It is in fact more disappointing than his other books on extinct birds and the Great Auk. A lot more could have been said and done and this book remains a vital reference on the Dodo with errors, holes and unapologetic omissions and scientific coyness.

Its price is good.

"As dead as a dodo." Everyone knows the phrase (and it is far clearer than the obscure doornail variant). The dodo is universally acknowledged as a symbol of extinction, not just a dead bird, not just a dead species, but an emblem of wipeout. Although everyone knows the dodo, we know almost nothing about it. It was discovered and wiped out long before the days of scientific observation. Errol Fuller has told us just about everything there is to know about the bird in _Dodo: A Brief History_ (HarperCollins). It is not as big or lush a volume as the one he produced on another goner, the great auk, but it is beautiful and fascinating.

The facts about the birds are slim. They came from the small island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. They were actually large pigeons. They weighed more than fifty pounds, according to an observer from 1634. They had ridiculously small wings that were a parody of flight. We don't know what they ate, what they sounded like, or how they mated. "But of one thing we can be sure," he writes, "There are now no dodos." Europeans arrived on Mauritius when the Dutch navy landed in 1598 (there had been transient visits by Portuguese and Arabs before then), and only fifty or so years later, there were no dodos. The dodo had no predators before encountering humans, so it had slipped into a flightless existence, and also did not flee when approached. They were easy prey. After the bird's extinction, no one much cared about it. In 1755, there was exactly one stuffed dodo. It was within the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. It was in such a decrepit state that it was consigned to the flames. The head and right foot alone were saved, and "these pitiful fragments" still exist and have been used for DNA samples. Of course they are depicted here.

After more than a century of oblivion, Fuller explains that one simple event caused "... the general public to take notice of the dodo, and the bird itself to enter the ranks of universal celebrity." In 1865, Lewis Carroll published _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_, with an episode of the "caucus race" which the dodo decides "Everybody has won, and all must have prizes." Prizes, he also decides, have to come from Alice herself. Sir John Tenniel illustrated the episode, with his image based on first-hand depictions. Fuller explains that the dodo, like the book, "... was suddenly in vogue and - again just like the book - it has never since been out of it." Dodo poems followed, and "Dodo" as a nickname for girls, dodos on teapots, tea towels, stamps, coffee mugs, advertisements, table service, and more. We will never forget the dodo. Fuller's handsome, beautifully illustrated volume of all this dodo lore helps in the cause of dodo remembrance. It is throughout good-humored, and in accord with its subject, it is peculiar, funny, and sad.

This series of travel guides compares well to the better known Lonely Planet guides. It is updated yearly, is well written, and comes only in hardback (independant travellers out there will know all about scruffy books stuffed into rucksacs). I recommend this guide to East Africa after using and comparing it to the others for eight months.