The most comprehensive travel guide I've seen. Hundreds of useful practical hints, explanations of cultural background and important things to remember for "whites" in order not to hurt or offend the traditional, mythical or religious beliefs, which are all very strong over there. I have travelled in West Africa myself, before reading this book, and found that it really shows the most important details to consider. Framed boxes in the text make it easy to find the essential tips. It is also valuable, that it shows how to travel cheaply, nothing about the luxurious hotels, more of the budget type of stuff.

I would also have to agree that this book was very well written, with a great deal of relavent information on The Gambia. I highly recomend this book.

Highly recommended! We just returned from our fourth trip to Senegal, and we found the Lonely Planet guidebook to be highly accurate and easily usable. It is well written and includes much helpful cultural information in addition to all the necessary facts. Don't leave for Senegal without it!!!!

In many cases, the coverage offered by Lonely Planet guidebooks may be hampered by the magnitude of the region they try and cover. This is why for example, in "Lonely Planet West Africa" (a bulky book which also covers Senegal and the Gambia), coverage of each single country is brief and not always perfect, and the reader is often lost among facts and information she or he does not need. Instead, in this much smaller and far more condensed guidebook, the author and editors have managed to put as much information and data as possible into it, about Senegal and the tiny Gambia. Coverage of both countries is excellent, providing up-to-date, accurate information and sensible advice, on anything from places to stay and eat, things to do and see, things to buy, and basically anything the traveller may wish to know. The coverage on culture, society, arts, music, and other information, is also excellent and wide, written in great prose and style. This is probably one of the best Lonely Planet guidebooks I have come across, and I would strongly recommend it to anyone travelling to those two countries. It will be an extremely useful tool, and will also provide great reading about the places being visited.

Michael Gomez is the leading authority on the former African nation of Bundu. Now part of Senegal, Bundu was the birthplace of one of Canada's first settlers, Richard Pierpoint. Professor Gomez's thorough research into the history of this area of Africa helped my brother David and I tremendously in the completion of our book "A Stolen Life: Searching for Richard Pierpoint." Gomez's book will enlighten those who are interested in Africa's past and present.

Baum has done an excellent job at capturing the impact of slavery on traditional African religion. The fact that an often ignored subject is gaining insightful scolarly attention is great and represents a definite progression within the feild.

They met on a plane and the attraction was overwhelming. Lorraine Barbette and Momar Diallo - two people who were not looking for personal involvement at that time. Lorraine had only recently broken her engagement to her fiance, and Momar was recently widowed. However, the attraction grows stronger and the two are quickly drawn in a more intense relationship.

Nevertheless, it is not only love that awaits the couple. Lorraine and Momar are of two different cultures. There are some things that they do not understand about each other and obstacles they must overcome, as well as dangers they are faced with, but as with true love, Lorraine and Momar survive the test of time. "Whispers in the Sand" is not only a romantic adventure between two individuals. "Whispers in the Sand" is a cultural awareness. It is an action-packed adventure. It keeps the reader inspired.

If you are looking for something different in the traditional romance, then read "Whispers in the Sand."

This book was recently selected as an Outstanding Academic Book 1998 by Choice Magazine.

In Sembene Ousmane's "God's Bits Of Wood" there is a detectable apect of human rights that surpasses all distinction. He points out the dilemmas of a neo-colonial state without giving them the weight of the novel. This novel utilizes this historical event to show humans at their best. The book shows the power of humankind to become humane without compromise. He displays well his ideas on race, gender, and human rights but by the end of the book we are led to an even more enlightening state of thinking and existing, which is to live without hate, even those who hate you, "[...] you must not let hatred enter your heart" (191). This is truly a great message to give while expressing such a triumphant story and event.
The novel also seems to contain a little intertextuality with the poetry of Muyaka (a 19th century poet who composed orally in his native tongue of Kiswahili and never saw the effects of colonialism). This relationship is most notable after reading his famous poem "Seeing Is Believing" (Ua La Manga)
-I've seen a hyena and a goat keeping good company.
-Also a hen and a hawk bringing up their chicks together
-And a blind person showing peopl the way;
-This was not told to me, I obvserved it with my own eyes.
I see the relationship throughout this poem but specifically with the third line, since one of the leaders of "Gods Bits Of Wood" is a blind woman named Maimouna, "All of the women seemed to want to walk behind Maimouna [...]" (201).
Ousmane also confronts the question of African Literature, and whether it can exist any mediums other than indigenous African languages. Throughout the book, which was originally, written in French, Ousmane will say such and such said in French when the novel clearly is already in French, "and then, holding out his hand to the two whit men, he added in French, 'Good morning, gentlemen" (125). By doing this throughout the novel Ousmane implies that the original is truly not in French but only exists that way (and in its English form) to cater to us, almost in an act of charity. The lines from one of the main characters embody this greatly, "That is all I had to say, and I have said it in French so that he would understnad me, although I think this meeting should have been conducted in Oulof, since that is our language" (177). He has written his novel in French for the same reason that Bakayoko speaks in it, because unlike Bakayoko,(and Ousmane) the French despite being surrounded by Oulof never picked it up.
All in all Ousmane accomplishes creating literature that is worthy of the world reading it. Like so much of African Literature it is masterful, new and refreshing, but sad because it is not enjoyed as widely as it should be.

Sembene Ousmane's third novel, God's Bits of Wood, was originally written and published in French as Les Bouts de bois de Dieu. The novel is set in pre-independence Senegal and follows the struggles of the African trainworkers in three cities as they go on strike against their French employers in an effort for equal benefits and compensation. The chapters of the book shift between the cities of Bamako, Thies, and Dakar and track the actions and growth of the men and women whose lives are transformed by the strike. Rather than number the chapters, Ousmane has labeled them by the city in which they take place, and the character who is the focal point of that chapter.

As the strike progresses, the French management decides to "starve out" the striking workers by cutting off local access to water and applying pressure on local merchants to prevent those shop owners from selling food on credit to the striking families. The men who once acted as providers for their family, now rely on their wives to scrape together enough food in order to feed the families. The new, more obvious reliance on women as providers begins to embolden the women. Since the women now suffer along with their striking husbands, the wives soon see themselves as active strikers as well.

The strategy of the French managers, or toubabs as the African workers call them, of using lack of food and water to pressure the strikers back to work, instead crystallizes for workers and their families the gross inequities that exist between them and their French employers. The growing hardships faced by the families only strengthens their resolve, especially that of the women. In fact, some of the husbands that consider faltering are forced into resoluteness by their wives. It is the women, not the men, who defend themselves with violence and clash with the armed French forces.

The women instinctively realize that women who are able to stand up to white men carrying guns are also able to assert themselves in their homes and villages, and make themselves a part of the decision making processes in their communities. The strike begins the awakening process, enabling the women to see themselves as active participants in their own lives and persons of influence in their society.

This book is wonderful yet sadly under-appreciated. Ousmane's handling of issues such as the politics of language, indigenous resistence, the cultural costs of forced industrialization, and the changing role of women really has the power to change the way people think. And yet, maybe the book's reach and resonance are the reasons that God's Bits of Wood is not widely read and taught in schools.

Truly one of my favorite novels. Sembene Ousmane vigorously engages the complex politics of post-colonial revolutionary struggle, while maintaining a humanistic artistic base of pure poetry. Also, Sembene Ousmane is one of a precious few male authors who creates dynamic, thinking, feeling female characters. Read this book--it's a gem.

This book provides a good overview of these parrots. There are not that many books about the Senegal and this one should provide the basic information necessary about these birds...PS- the book is a lot cheaper on Amazon then at a pet store, if you can even find it...It is worth it, especially, if this is your first parrot..

As the owner of two Senegal Parrots I can definetely say that this is THE book for anyone who owns one of these fiesty green fids!!

It will give you good basic information. There are lots of other books out there on parrots but this is the one if you own a Senegal.

Being a bird owner is a serious responsibility this book will help you determine if this bird is for you.

I bought this book AFTER I bought my baby Senegal Parrot. Boy how I wish I had bought it before I bought the bird. As a first time bird owner, Guide to Senegal Parrot and Its Family is chock full of very useful information. Topics covered are cages, behavior, diet, talking, etc. Covers just about everything you need to know to have a healthy and happy relationship with your special parrot friend.

Stella began collecting orphaned animals practically before she could walk around the grounds of her African home. By age seven she was mothering an infant monkey. Soon she was in charge of a menagerie including an ever growing population of orphaned chimpanzees. The centerpiece of the book is how Stella managed to find a way to support and rear and release into the wild a never ending stream of animals sent from all over the world. She was helped by native Africans, publishers, and even the keepers of Gombe, Jane Goodall and Hugo van Lawik. This is not a story of superwoman, but rather of an ordinary woman with extraordinary determination and love. Read it if you can.

they were so adorable, i wanted to hug them. what a shame this book is out of print. it should be republished again.