The Overloaded Ark, [Library Binding]

Gerald Malcolm, Durrell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2000

Relates the author's experiences and adventures during a 6-month expedition in West Africa to collect specimens for his zoo.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From AudioFile

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. (c) AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Library Binding
• Publisher: Franklin Watts, Incorporated (January 2000)
• ISBN-10: 0531002586
• ISBN-13: 978-0531002582
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,836,542 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Where da beef? In this book, that's where, August 24, 2002

By 

Samuel Krikorian (Charlotte, NC United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Overloaded Ark (Paperback)

Gerald Durrell spent most of his life collecting interesting animal specimens and Durrell is an interesting human specimen himself. His well chronicled life (mostly chronicled by Durrell) begins with the hilarious, and very succesfull, "My family and Other Animals". It is ably followed up with the equally hilarious "Birds, Beasts and Relatives". Both books are full of tales from the Durrell family's years on the Greek Island of Corfu, pre WWII. Little Gerry dives right into the flora and fauna of the island, including its human fauna. I own very few nonfiction books with such a plethora of memorable characters. Now, of course, we get to the volume in question. It is plenty good, and worth multiple readings over years, as is "A Zoo In My Luggage" and several other books detailing trips to collect animals. A word of warning, don't go nuts and buy all the zillion Durrell titles. Some of them are out of print for a reason and were most likely dashed off by Durrell to finance a collecting trip or two. If you read a sampling of Amazon.com reviews you will sniff these out and avoid wasting you hard earned lucre. And please, get "My Familiy and Other Animals and "Birds, Beasts and Relatives" right now, if you dont have them already.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still enjoyable nearly forty years on, May 5, 2003

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Overloaded Ark (Paperback)

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.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Lovable and discriptive novel., June 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Overloaded Ark (Audio Cassette)

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.