THE OVERLOADED ARK

This account of Gerald Durrell's 1953 trip to the Cameroons to collect live reptiles, birds and mammals for British zoos is filled with hair-raising and hysterical adventures. It was the first professional collecting trip to the region and was also Durrell's first visit to Africa. Nigel Davenport captures all of Durrell's enthusiasm and naïveté--as well as the pain of being stung by wasps and the fear that results from almost falling on top of a very large monitor lizard. Davenport also renders pidgin (the lingua franca of European-African communication) both credible and comprehensible. The reading is so persuasive that the listener becomes a member of the expedition. Leopards, anyone? R.E.K. © AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 99]