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.