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.

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