Chris McIntyre

Namibia's profile has grown immensely since my first guidebook to it 30 years ago, as have the options for visitors there. So research for this edition was a huge undertaking; I was particularly grateful for help of many of the Expert Africa team.

This 5th edition of my Botswana guide is out mid-2018 and, as always, putting it together has been a team effort. Researching in 2017, it was great to see how well Botswana is doing, both for its people and its wildlife - a real success in many ways.

As with Northern Tanzania, my wife, Susie, and I input to this guide at the same time as being responsible for the 'Zanzibar, Pemba & Mafia' guide published at the same time.

My wife, Susie, and I have written the Zanzibar guide since researching its 6th edition, in 2005. Since then, the island, and the scale of tourism there, has changed immensely – but at its best, it’s still a very magical place.

This Northern Tanzania guide has long been Phillip's book - but my wife, Susie, and I took responsible for the islands, and helped across the parks, thanks to the experiences of our travellers there, as well as our our own.

I backpacked alone to write the first Zambia guidebook in 1996, when Zambia was unknown territory. Now Ed.6 is a team effort: Freddie & Eleanor from the Expert team also headed off on research trips to far-flung parts of Zambia for this edition.

I first travelled to Namibia in 1989, pre-Independence. I expected problems but found none. Just a captivating country which was, even then, very easy to travel around. Many editions later, it’s even easier to travel there and just as captivating.

Botswana is always an interesting book to research and write as the concessions and areas change relatively slowly, which gives me time to explore some of the areas in depth each time - and that's always a real pleasure.

For this 3rd edition of the Northern Tanzania guide, my wife, Susie, and I took responsibility for the islands and input across the parks, with help researching from Angela & Eleanor in the Expert Africa team, plus many comments from our travellers.

Zanzibar had changed a lot in the two editions since my wife, Susie, and I took over this guidebook, so it was great to for us to cover the ground again, seeing the changes first-hand, updating our understanding - and finding a few real gems.

My first significant contribution to a guidebook on Tanzania built on a great existing base from Philip Briggs, and the help of research from several of the Expert Arica team, not to mention many of our travellers' comments.

The 5th edition was large, around 550 pages, as tourism to Zambia had grown. It's a magical country of owner-run lodges, serious safaris and great walking guides. Expert Africa's Claire, Eleanor & Lucy all helped with research and immense expertise.

Researching my Botswana guides has always been an adventure and this 3rd edition was no exception - a great privilege and pleasure to take a 4WD to reach and research some of Botswana's most remote corners.

Zanzibar's relative small in size, but there's a lot of places to get around to research a guide like this and the speed of change is high. This guide takes months in-country, and longer at home to write - but it's a privilege and worth it.

My wife, Susie, and I took over this guidebook which needed researching, re-structuring and re-writing. hard work, with almost 2 months or in the ground - but it was a privilege to get to know these stunning islands in real depth.

Totally different in style from my usual guidebooks, this full-colour guide allowed me to recount in depth about adventures across the Kalahari, Namib and Skeleton Coast. Such a privilege to be able to spend this time in Africa and write about it!

I co-authored my first guidebook to Namibia & Botswana in 1990 and a second edition in '94. Both were basic by today’s standards, with line drawings, sketch maps and few pictures, but as the first full English guide to these countries, they did well!