Billed as the definitive guide to bush getaways in South Africa, ?Going Bush? certainly can?t be faulted in the depth of its coverage of outdoor escapes across South Africa. With 251 nature reserves, game parks, 4x4 trails and safari camps covered in detail, it certainly is a valuable book to have around when planning that next trip into the great outdoors.

But perhaps the most striking aspect of the book is its novel design. Spiral-bound like a journalist?s notebook, the 255 pages flip vertically allowing you to easily page through the different sections. While wonderfully easy to use while seated comfortably at home, I?m not entirely convinced that it?ll be as user-friendly while bumping along a dusty track in a 4x4.

The design also lets you browse through the maps of each province to find accommodation in the area you?re visiting, and check the entries for each lodge or reserve at the same time. The maps are detailed enough to use as basic road maps, saving you hauling out your road map as well, but a distance table between major areas/sights in each province would have been a useful inclusion.

In a similar vein to the maps, there is a handy key on the back cover that allows you to quickly see important information about the lodge such as adventure activities available, catering options and conference facilities. A range of accommodation has been included, from budget bargains to luxury lodges, which are each graded according to a price range key, which indicates whether the establishment is under R150 per person (pp), R150 ? R749pp or R750 pp and above. Although the simplicity is obviously for ease of use, I would have preferred the price range key to have been a bit more detailed as the difference between R150 pp and R749 pp covers an enormous range of accommodation options.

Province by province
The guide is divided into each of the nine provinces, but with a major emphasis on Limpopo (78 entries), which contains both the Kruger National park and the Waterberg Biosphere Reserve, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal. Having said that, the author has done an excellent job of uncovering outdoor getaways in provinces that don?t have many game parks. Whether it?s 4x4 trails in the mountains of the Western Cape or canoe trails in Tsitsikamma, there is plenty to do that doesn?t include the Big Five.

I particularly liked the page or so of free space at the end of each province which has been set aside for notes. I?m a firm believer in jotting notes in travel books for the next trip, and it?s great to see some space set aside for scribblers.

With the novel design geared towards being a quick and easy reference guide, ?Going Bush? is definitely a handy resource to have around when planning a trip into the bush. Whether or not the ring-bound foldout design will withstand the rigours of outdoor travel, well, you?ll have to take it on a test-drive yourself.