Reissued by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in
electronic form is this 1954 classic THREE SINGLES TO
ADVENTURE. Gerald Durrell was a lifelong animal enthusiast
who spent a decade collecting animals for zoos and
conservation efforts, before settling down and establishing
his own conservation trust and zoo on the British island of
Jersey.
Guiana in South America is the setting for this hilarious
account of rodents, reptiles, monkeys and mayhem.
Collectors have been frowned upon in more recent times for
their activities, which often consisted of setting up camp
in a village and telling the locals that they wanted live
animals. The locals would go out and hunt animals,
sometimes killing a mother and taking the young. Some of
the animals would die while being transported to zoos or
the zoo would only have one, not a breeding pair. Durrell
explains that the local Amerindians killed these animals
for food or skins anyway. The friendly people seldom saw
outsiders and were paid for the animals so they could buy
goods like pots and pans. Durrell had also learned that the
most important issue - after constructing suitable cages -
was to start animals eating a food which they could live on
in captivity, away from their native plants or insects. He
did his best to provide zoos with a breeding population.
From the gallop across the pampas in hot pursuit of a giant
anteater which, when cornered, reared up to six feet, to
the heroic efforts to catch and carry a mature cayman,
Durrell was certainly willing to catch his own creatures.
He also goes into detail about the fascinating adaptations
of each animal, some for water and others for burrowing or
clinging to branches. Some creatures put teeth and claws to
good use on their handlers, but a turkey-like bird followed
the men around and lay on their feet no matter what they
were doing. The landscape is a vibrant part of this tale,
with sharp saw-toothed grasses on the pampas, dense humid
jungle festooned with Spanish moss and profuse orchids,
swampy river delta land broken by channels dotted with
giant water lilies.
Unlike today's image of well-armed and equipped safari
travellers, Durrell and his work partner Smith, plus Bob,
an artist who offered to join them, travelled very light,
hired local guides and had no vehicles or GPS. Their first
destination was a village enchantingly called Adventure, so
at the boat quay Gerald Durrell was delighted to ask for
THREE SINGLES TO ADVENTURE. I recommend the read for
wildlife lovers of any age or if you just feel like a
laugh.
Journey to South America on a search for endangered
species with the author of My Family and Other
Animals.
In 1950, Gerald Durrell set off for British Guiana (now
Guyana) to collect native wildlife and bring it back to his
Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust on the island of Jersey
in the English Channel.
On his journey, Durrell experienced all kinds of adventures:
some amusing, some thrilling, and some extremely irritating.
He traveled up the Essequibo River into the lush tropical
forests and trekked across a landscape teeming with life and
color. He encountered the sakiwinki monkey and the sloth
with curiously green fur, heard the horrifying sounds of
rampaging piranhas, and learned how to lasso a galloping
anteater. He even met an ill-tempered anaconda and an overly
affectionate bird.
This remarkable memoir will take you into a wild place in
another time, accompanied by the highly entertaining
naturalist whose writings inspired popular Masterpiece
series The Durrells in Corfu.
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