The Overloaded Ark

This review relates to the hardback first edition. A hit when published, and still in print, this memoir records the adventures of Durrell and zoologist John Yealland, in their collecting expedition to the Cameroons -- a trip designed and financed by these two intrepid men from scratch. Durrell, then 28, was dubbed "the youngest zoological collector in Great Britain." And both Yealland and Durrell, according to publisher Viking, were "as green as the jungles ahead of them." Here is how Viking pitched the tale on the dustcover of the 1st American edition: "Being the wonderful account of an expedition by two young naturalists to the rain forests of the Cameroons to collect rare animals and birds for British zoos; in which you will meet (among others) such diverting characters as two notably unheroic native hunters, some lovable duikers, a fabulously ingratiating chimpanzee named Chumley, and a giant water shrew known as the Fossil That Bit. A book so knowledgeful, humorous and modest that you wil long remember it as a reading experience of a particular enchantment." Cute. However, this undersells Durrell's power as a writer. One expects him to be a naturalist of enthusiasm, but a passage like this speaks to his narrative maturity... "The most notable feature of the forest was the innumerable tiny streams, shallow and clear, that meandered their way in an intricate and complicated pattern across its floor. Glinting and coiling round the smooth brown boulders, sweeping in curves to form the snow-white sandbanks, busily hollowing out the earth from under the grasping tree roots, simmering and chuckling, they went into the dark depths of the forest. They chattered and frothed importantly in diminutive waterfalls and scooped out deep placid pools in the sandstone, where the blue and red fish, the pink crabs, and the small gaudy frogs lived." And that is just half of a remarkable description that moves on to describe these streams in the dry season, connecting them to more fauna and flora, a chunk of prose highly biological and highly poetic. Damn!

This was the first of Gerald Durrell's (yes, he's the kid brother of novelist Lawrence--who appears in several of his other works, such as My Family and Other Animals and Birds, Beasts, and Relatives) long string of animal books that I ever encountered, and over the next 30-odd years my mother and I literally read our copy to pieces. Durrell was the youngest collector ever commissioned when he set off for the British Cameroons in search, chiefly, of the less spectacular examples of African fauna. With a mixture of near-lyricism, earthiness, and the kind of humor that will have you gasping for breath, he describes the people he met (primarily native villagers), the creatures he caught (and how he did it), and the land it all took place in. Even at this early date, long before his famous Jersey Island zoo was more than a faint gleam in his eye, his deep love of nature shines out on every page, and he's an author every animal fan should know. (Don't miss the tale of his next expedition, The Bafut Beagles, which is equally as good.)

This book is about a business that, for the most part, no longer exists - the business of collecting animals for display in zoos. Wildlife conservation has changed a lot since then so the kind of expedition that Gerald Durrell and his companion, John, undertook in 1953, described in this book, just could not happen now.Gerald describes how he and John spent several months in Cameroon collecting a variety of animals, birds and reptiles and some of the adventures they had, including the triumphs and disappointments. He acknowledges right at the beginning that the expedition may seem more exciting than it really was, because all the boring aspects have been omitted. Even so, there were enough exciting moments to fill this book.He describes some of the local people, who he mostly got on well with - but of course he did have some problems and we are told about these. He describes some of the creatures he collected, and the disappointment when some died or escaped.My favorite (both at school and now) was a chimpanzee that had already been domesticated. Gerald was asked to look after him before he could be shipped to London. This was no ordinary chimpanzee, as he not only enjoyed smoking cigarettes but was able to light his own using either matches or lighter, and also displayed other characteristics more normally associated with people than with chimpanzees. Always remember that this was 1953. This is a highly entertaining book, which I first read at school, where it was compulsory reading - and it was the only such book that I enjoyed. I still enjoyed it when I read it again recently, after discovering (to my surprise) that it is still available in the UK.

Durrell's descriptions are so enthralling, I actually read the entire book in one night. If you like books about animals, such as the All Creatures series, you must read this book. I first read this book when I was 10, and this was probably the first adult book I read. The way Durrell describes the catching of animals and the way he captures each character's essence is incredible. You will fall in love with this book. I strongly recommend it.