A Zoo in My Luggage

A Zoo in My Luggage by Gerald Durrell  198 pp.

This is the first book of the trilogy The Zoo Memoirs by the naturalist and author, Gerald Durrell, known for the wonderful memoir My Family and Other Animals which inspired the PBS series "The Durrells in Corfu." In 1957 Durrell and his wife traveled to the British Cameroons (now Cameroon) in West Africa to collect animals for the zoo he planned to build in England. The first part of the book involves their adventures there and the sometimes hilarious relationship with the local head man.  The second part covers Durrell's search for a place to build his zoo (something you would think he would have in place before collecting the animals, but that's not how Durrells do things). After much difficulty he managed to find a place on the Channel Island of Jersey where the zoo still exists run by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. Some of the best anecdotes involve a diaper and clothing wearing chimpanzee named Cholmondeley St. John - pronounced Chumley Sinjin who became a regular at a local pub.