Lonely Planet Central Africa: A Travel Survival Kit

Wow, it's an old book, and it's really out of date. But it's the most comprehensive look you can get. Very frustrating, but useful nonetheless.

Central Africa is almost undoubtedly the least touristic, among the inhabited region of our Planet - and unfortunately so, for it offers wonders that few other parts of the world can offer. You can paddle a canoe down a junge river for weeks on end, hunt with the Pygmies, climb an active volcano, come face-to-face with a mountain gorilla, trek through the snow-capped Mountains of the Moon, join a search for white rhinos, dance all night to Congo music, have a bath on the unique beaches of São Tomé & Principe... Due to the very limited touristic facilities of the region, it would appear that Lonely Planet has never re-printed this 1994 edition of the guidebook, nor published a new one. This is why, despite the fact that the book is clearly well out of date, it surely remains the best guide to the region. Its advice on hotels and restaurants may no longer be perfect, but its wide sections on culture and society, its maps, its general advice, remain irreplaceable tools for the traveler.