So, after a frustrating year of struggling with councils and other local authorities, I had gone to Jersey, and within an hour of landing at the airport I had found my zoo.
The Last Word
My zoo in Jersey has now been open to the public for nearly a year. We are probably the newest zoo in Europe and, I like to think, one of the nicest. We are small, of course (at the moment we have only about six hundred and fifty mammals, birds and reptiles), but we will continue to expand. Already we have on show a number of creatures which no other zoo possesses and we hope in the future when funds permit to concentrate on those species which are threatened with extinction.
Many of the animals on show are ones I collected myself. This is, as I said before, the best part of having one’s own zoo; one can bring the animals back for it, watch their progress, watch them breed, go out and visit them at any hour of the day or night. This is the selfish pleasure of one’s own zoo. But also I hope that, in a small way, I am interesting people in animal life and in its conservation. If I accomplish this I will consider that I have achieved something worthwhile. And if I can, later on, help even slightly towards preventing an animal from becoming extinct, I will be more than content.
Acknowledgements
Britain
All the members of the expedition are very grateful to the following manufacturers who supported them in a most generous way:
Adhesive Tapes Ltd Sellotape
S. Allcock & Co. Ltd Fishing lines
Ashton Brothers & Co. Ltd Bedding
Black & Decker Ltd Drill
Bovril Ltd Food
Brand & Co. Ltd Food
British Bata Shoe Co. Baseball boots
British Berkefeld Filters Ltd Filters
British Nylon Spinners Ltd Clothing
Cerebos Ltd Food
Coleman Quick Lite Co. Ltd Lighting and heating
Joseph Cookson Ltd Rope
Cussons Sons & Co. Toilet goods
W. M. Delf (L’pool) Ltd Disinfectant
Electrical Equipment Co. Generator
Ever-Ready Co. (GB) Ltd Batteries
Joseph Farrow & Co. Ltd Food
Granta Works Folding canoe
Horlicks Ltd Food
Hugon & Co. Ltd Food
Jeyes-Ibco Sales Ltd Disinfectant
Percy Jones (Twinlock) Ltd. Files
G. B. Kalee Ltd Ciné equipment
Kimberly-Clark Ltd Tissues
Latex Upholstery Ltd Foam rubber
Linen Thread Company Ltd Special line
Lustraphone Ltd Microphone
Marmite Ltd Food
William Marples & Sons Ltd Tools
Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co. Ltd Tapes
Don S. Momand Ltd Alka-Seltzer
The Nestlé Company Ltd Food
Olympia Ltd Typewriter
Oxo Ltd Food
Pifco Ltd Lighting
Polarisers (UK) Ltd Sun-glasses
Prestige Group Ltd Cooking equipment
Rael-Brook Ltd Clothing
Reckitt & Colman Ltd Medical supplies
Revlon Toilet goods
Ross Ensign Ltd Binoculars
Geo. Salter & Co. Ltd Scales
Scott & Turner Vitamin food
Selfset Ltd Traps
The Sheffield Twist Drill & Steel Co. Ltd Drills
Smith & Nephew Ltd Medical supplies
Smiths Clocks and Watches Ltd Watches
Spear & Jackson Ltd Spades
Spong & Co. Ltd Mincers
Stanley Works (GB) Ltd Tools
Tate & Lyle Ltd Food
Templeton Patents Ltd Dried foods
Joseph Tetley & Co. Ltd Tea
Tilley Lamp Co. Ltd Lamps and heaters
United Yeast Co. Ltd Yeast
Venesta Ltd Plymax board
Venner Accumulators Ltd Batteries for recorder
Vitamins Ltd Bemax
Windolite Ltd Windolite
Yeo Bros. Paul Ltd Tent
S. Young & Sons (Misterton) Ltd Animal equipment
Manufacturers whose products were of tremendous value and without which the expedition would have been seriously hampered were:
Allen & Hanburys Entavet
Barnards Ltd Wire netting
B.D.H. Medical supplies
British Nylon Spinners Ltd, Pontypool Tarpaulins, etc.
Glaxo Labs Ltd Animal food
Greengate & Irwell Rubber Co. Ltd Nylon tarpaulins
Joseph Gundry & Co. Ltd Special nets
Halex Ltd Plastic goods
Kenneth G. Hayes Ltd Finch nest baskets
Hounsfield Ltd Camp-beds
Imperial Chemical (Pharmaceuticals) Ltd Medical supplies
The Oppenheimer Casing Co. (UK) Ltd Polythene bags
Parke-Davis & Co. Ltd Medical supplies
William Smith (Poplar) Ltd Tarpaulins, tent, etc.
Thomas’s Ltd Cages and special equipment
J. H. Thompson (Cutlery) Ltd Cutlery
Transatlantic Plastics Ltd Polythene bags
Varley Dry Accumulators Ltd for ciné camera
Wire-Bands Ltd Banding machine
LONDON: Mr Miles, of Grindlay’s Bank Shipping Department, without whose efforts no members of the expedition would ever have arrived in the Cameroons.
Cameroons
VICTORIA: Mr Eric Saward, Acting Manager, U.A.C., and his wife, Sheila, who generously welcomed us to the Cameroons.
Mr MacCarney, Manager, U.A.C., who went out of his way to help us.
Mr Walker, of Elders and Fyffes Ltd, who saw that all food supplies for the animals were safely put upon the ship.
Mr Dudding, Assistant Commissioner, for all his help in arranging all our permits to catch animals.
Mr Austin, of the Agricultural Co-operative, who most kindly sent a large truck all the way up from the coast to Bafut to ensure that both we and our animals caught the ship on time.
KUMBA: Dr William Crewe, who so lavishly entertained both us and our animal cargo on our way down to the coast.
Mr Gordon, Manager, U.A.C., who supplied us with a four-wheel-drive Bedford truck to take our animals down to the coast.
MAMFE: Mr John Henderson, Manager, U.A.C., for whom our gratitude knows no bounds.
Mr John Topham, who invited both us and our animals to invade his house at the dead of night and did everything he could to assist us. He also provided a truck to take the animals down to the coast.
Mr John Thrupp, District Officer of the Mamfe Division, who bore our complaints and protests with fortitude.
Mr Martin Davis, Forestry Officer, who helped us in every way and brought us Tavy, our second black-footed mongoose.
BEMENDA: Dr Paul Gebauer, of the Cameroons Baptist Mission, who, as on previous expeditions, suffered much at our hands yet always welcomed us.
Mr Brandt, Manager, U.A.C., and his wife Rona, who did everything they could to make our stay in Bemenda enjoyable.
Mr Shadock, A.D.O., who helped us in many ways to smooth our departure.
Mr Macfarlane, Veterinary Officer of the Cameroons, who gave us invaluable assistance with our animal charges.
Mr Stan Marriot, of the Agricultural Department, who recharged our camera batteries and repaired our Land-Rover on countless occasions.
Mr Dennison, Manager, U.A.C., who helped us in any way he could.
TIKO: Mr Bowerman, of C.D.C., who made all arrangements for us to stay in the Rest House prior to our sailing.
Our thanks also to the Captain, officers and men of the M.V. Nicoya, and in particular to Mr Terrance Huxtable, the Chief Steward, who bore with us and our animals with great fortitude and understanding.
Last of all we would like to thank our good friend, the Fon of Bafut, for giving us ‘a happy time’.
He just wanted a decent book to read ...
Not too much to ask, is it? It was in 1935 when Allen Lane, Managing Director of Bodley Head Publishers, stood on a platform at Ex
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Sir Allen Lane, 1902–1970, founder of Penguin Books
The quality paperback had arrived – and not just in bookshops. Lane was adamant that his Penguins should appear in chain stores and tobacconists, and should cost no more than a packet of cigarettes.
Reading habits (and cigarette prices) have changed since 1935, but Penguin still believes in publishing the best books for everybody to enjoy.We still believe that good design costs no more than bad design, and we still believe that quality books published passionately and responsibly make the world a better place.
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PENGUIN BOOKS
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First published in Great Britain by Rupert Hart-Davis 1960
First published in the United States of America by The Viking Press 1960
Published in Penguin Books 1964
Reissued in this edition 2012
Copyright © Gerald Durrell, 1960
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ISBN: 978-0-14-193165-4