While living as a lad in Nigeria, Malcolm meets and interacts with a host of different animals. There's the ever-loyal African Bush dog, Poucher, who becomes an integral part of the family and surviving a savage attack by a wild animal goes on to save his mother's life: Polly, the parrot, who always kept a beady eye on him: the baby Patas monkey, hand-reared when abandoned by its mother: the camel of a visiting trader with a sore toe: the desperate attempt by his father to operate on a gored ostrich at the local zoo: and many more adventures. These exciting encounters illustrate how they help to fuel Malcolm s passion for such animals and form the basis of his lifelong love of them. Readers will be enthralled to share his experiences.