This guide to Colombia reflects the resurgence of the country among travellers following years of lawlessness. With a strong focus on the country's cultural attractions, it will appeal to visitors seeking to discover Colombia's renowned flora and fauna, as well as its historic colonial cities, and its range of eco-tourism initiatives

This new, fourth edition of Bradt's Colombia has been thoroughly revised and updated to include all the most recent developments in this emerging South American destination and to bring to the fore the country's fast-developing ecotourism offering. New for this edition is coverage of Yopal and San José del Guaviare, Caqueta, Vichada and Guainia, and on the Atlantic coast, Palomino. Also included are details of how to go star-gazing in the lunar landscapes of the Tatacoa desert, learning to wrangle cattle during the Coleo festival in Villavicencio, visiting ancient rock paintings in unexplored Guaviare, where to try the traditional fermented tipple of the original Muisca people, and visiting the rainbow river of Caño Cristales and the untouched wilds and jungles of Chiribiquete National Park.After decades of trouble, Colombia now offers one of the most exciting new travel experiences in South America. The country is home to a staggering 10% of all species found on the planet: pink river dolphins swim in the Amazon near Leticia, jaguar and ocelot slip between the trees in vine-tangled rainforest and birdwatchers rightly marvel in the vast savannah of Los Llanos and beyond. What's more, from vibrant cities such as Bogotá, Medellin, Cali and Cartagena to emerging destinations across the country, Colombians will receive you with a smile as if you were one of their own. Still unaccustomed to international visitors, just speaking a little Spanish goes a long way. With Bradt's Colombia, relax in Bogotás fashionable restaurants, discover the colonial backwater of Mompós, a town currently undergoing something of a renaissance with its traditional silver jewellery shops and international jazz festival, and explore the UNESCO Seaflower Biosphere Reserve in the San Andres Archipelago, location of Providencia, the least developed and visited island in all of the Caribbean. For birders, the country boasts an embarrassment of riches, nowhere more so than Los Llanos and the Sierra Nevada mountains in the north.

Amazon Highlights helps travelers decide where to see the best of the Amazon's wildlife and culture.

With an idyllic landscape of volcanoes, rain forest, and Caribbean coasts, and a skyline ever-colorful with butterfly migrations and over 350 species of birdlife, it isn't surprising Panama has always been a popular escape for Americans. Plan the perfect getaway with this guide, which features a multitude of opportunities for watersports and hiking.

If you're planning a trip to Colombia, you probably know already that guidebooks on this country have left a lot to be desired. Recognizing the need for a reliable travel guide to Colombia, V!VA sent a team of writers, and they came back with the best guidebook yet. From the pearl beaches of San Andrs Island and the emerald jungles of the Amazon to the stunning Guajira deserts and the enigmatic mangroves of the Pacific, this book offers information on all you need to know, including: * hotel, restaurant and activities listings for every budget; * shopping in markets and workshops for the nation's best artisan crafts; * coverage on almost two dozen National Parks Sanctuaries; * border crossing information, to Panam, Venezuela, Per, Brazil and Ecuador; * an extensive bibliography to keep informed and help make your journey safe. Whether for business, a family vacation or a gap-year adventure, V!VA Travel Guide to Colombia is the guidebook for all travelers.

Travel Guide.

The Bradt guide to Svalbard (Spitsbergen), including Franz Josef Land and Jan Mayen, is a unique, standalone guidebook to this evocative Arctic archipelago, a place that is plunged into darkness for four months each year and where there are 4,000 snow scooters for a population of just 2,500. This new sixth edition has been thoroughly updated throughout and offers new material on everything from adventure tours to accommodation, environmental change to restaurants. Also covered are the restoration of Barentsburg and the opening of Svalbard's historic mines to visitors. Newly updated and amended, this edition reflects important recent changes in the archipelago, making it the perfect guide to a quintessential bucket-list destination. Possibly the most remote destination in the developed world, Svalbard is as off the beaten track as you can get in Europe today. A destination where there are more polar bears than people, Svalbard is the planet's most northerly settled land and the top (if not the end) of the world. It was on and around Svalbard that most of David Attenborough' Frozen Planet was filmed. A trip to Svalbard easily lends itself to notching up geographic superlatives (most northerly kebab, most northerly souvenir shop, etc) and adventurous travellers seek out experiences such as husky driving and hikes across the permafrost, charmed by the island law that requires everyone to carry a rifle anywhere outside of Longyearbyen, a constant reminder of Svalbard's 3,000-strong polar bear population. The main tourist period falls in Svalbard's brief summer, from June to August, when it's light around the clock and not very cold. However, increasingly popular for winter sports - especially because the next few years will enjoy unusually high Northern Lights activity - are the so-called 'light winter' months (March-May), when there is both sunlight and snow. The winter season itself (November/December-March) offers many possibilities for outdoor adventure - and the polar night is an experience in itself. Despite winter temperatures that can drop to over 40 below zero, Svalbard's glorious mountains, majestic fjords and sprawling valleys are the perfect setting for adventurous journeys out to the back of beyond, giving visitors a unique vantage point on a unique tourist destination. This brand-new edition of Svalbard provides all of the practical and background information you'll need to explore this wild place, turning the hostile into the hospitable. Bradt's Svalbard is written by Roger Norum, an expert in the region who writes regularly on northern Norway for the press and who teaches Norwegian language and translation at University College London. He is also a Research Fellow at the University of Leeds, where he carries out research on the links between tourism, travel writing and environmental change in the European Arctic.

This guide to Venezuela has been expanded to widen the scope of the background and practical information, including tour operators and suggested itineraries. Details are provided on national parks, with fact boxes on local history and culture.'

This brand new Bradt Guide to The Gambia provides all the background and practical information you need to explore the beaches and interior of Africa's smallest - and arguably most welcoming - country.