Durrell - The Aye-Aye and I

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First published by HarperCollins Ltd 1992
First published in this edition in Penguin Books 2012

Copyright Gerald Durrell, 1992

Cover illustrations Brian Cairns

All rights reserved

ISBN: 978-0-14-197129-2

PENGUIN BOOKS

Gerald Durrell was born in Jamshedpur, India, in 1925. He returned to England in 1928 before settling on the island of Corfu with his family. In 1945 he joined the staff of Whipsnade Park as a student keeper, and in 1947 he led his first animal-collecting expedition to the Cameroons. He later undertook numerous further expeditions, visiting Paraguay, Argentina, Sierra Leone, Mexico, Mauritius, Assam and Madagascar. His first television programme, Two in the Bush, which documented his travels to New Zealand, Australia and Malaya, was made in 1962; he went on to make seventy programmes about his trips around the world. In 1959 he founded the Jersey Zoological Park, and in 1963 he founded the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust. He was awarded the OBE in 1982. Encouraged to write about his lifes work by his novelist brother Lawrence, Durrell published his first book, The Overloaded Ark, in 1953. It soon became a bestseller and he went on to write thirty-six other titles, including My Family and Other Animals, The Bafut Beagles, Encounters with Animals, The Drunken Forest, A Zoo in My Luggage, The Whispering Land, Menagerie Manor, The Amateur Naturalist and The Aye-Aye and I. Gerald Durrell died in 1995.

For Lee
who has put up with me,
is putting up with me
and, hopefully,
will go on putting up with me
until she has to put me down

All the principal expedition team members join me in offering most grateful thanks to Channel Television Inc. (Jersey, Channel Islands), and the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust for providing major funding for the expedition, to Wildlife Preservation Trust International and the Toyota Motor Corporation, each of whom donated a Toyota Land Cruiser, and to Air Mauritius for covering the international air travel for the expedition members, the Channel Television team, the animals and the baggage.

Much appreciation must also be expressed to the Government of Madagascar for granting permission for the expedition, particularly to the Direction des Eaux et Forts, and to the Director and Staff of the Parc Botanique et Zoologique de Tsimbazaza for the excellent care of the animals before the trip to Jersey.

Without the help, expertise and encouragement so generously provided by many people in Madagascar, the expedition would not have been such a success, and to these people we offer warmest thanks: Roland Albignac, Dennis and Helen Amy, Benjamin Andriamahaja, Mina Andriamasimanana, Alan Hickling, Olivier Langrand, Martin Nicoll, Julien Rabesoa, Mihanta Rakotoarinosy, Georges Rakotonarivo, Raymond Rakotonindrina, Victor-Solo Rakotonirina, Edmond Rakotovao, Guy Ramangason, Joseph Randrianaivoravelona, Celestine Ravaoarinoromanga, Don Reid, Licia Roger, Monsieur and Madame Roland, Eleanor Stirling, Barthlmi Vaohita, Edward and Araminta Whitley, Fran Woods, Lucienne Wilm and all the people of the village of Antanambaobe, especially Marc and Marlin Marcel.

Finally, we are all indebted to the Channel Television team for their hard work, enthusiasm and good cheer, which made the Mananara leg of the expedition such a memorable experience: Captain Bob Evans, Tim Ringsdore, Mickey Tostevin, Graham Tidy, Frank Cvitanovitch and our two brilliant drivers, Tiana and Bruno.

by Lee Durrell

The Aye-aye and I was a hugely significant book for Gerry and me in many ways. There was the amazing expedition to Madagascar itself, the subject of the book, and the conservation ideas and activities that the expedition generated were boundless. Add the friendships established and the coincidences and milestones that occurred, and the book truly represents a big chunk of our lives.

First of all, Madagascar already had a special meaning for us. I had experienced this extraordinary country as a student well before I knew about Gerald Durrell. In fact, I had been reading Gerrys brother, Lawrence Durrell, just before I left for Madagascar to begin my PhD research. But I discovered some of Gerrys books on a chance visit to a mission library in a remote part of the south about a year later, and I was hooked!

Gerry, well travelled as he was, had never been to Madagascar, although it is known as a naturalists paradise. When we decided to get married, the Great Red Island was at the top of our list of places to visit, and I had the privilege of introducing Gerry to it in the late seventies.

I hardly need refer here to the expedition itself, as you will have the delightful experience of reading about it in this book. Suffice it to say, it was an exceptional mix of elation and frustration, beautiful landscapes and enchanting animals, nightmares of bureaucracy and worries about health, not only the animals but also our own a true life adventure!

The conservation impacts of the expedition were far-reaching and, of course, ongoing conservation is a long-term endeavour. They are neatly summarised in the Afterword by Tim Wright, Senior Mammal Keeper at Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. There is, however, a person we met whilst on the expedition who deserves particular mention. Joanna Durbin was a young PhD student who had studied zoology, but who now wanted to study the people in the areas where endangered species live. Gerry took to her immediately, elevating her to the status of boom-boom lady, his description of women who get things done. Joanna eventually became the Trusts Madagascar Programme Director and pioneered our work in community conservation.

There were many milestones passed on the Madagascar trip. It was Gerrys last animal-collecting expedition. He was jocular about his aches and pains, but he never got much better, and aside from a cruise up the west coast of South America about two years later, this was to be his final major journey. He reports in the book that while we were in Madagascar, his brother Larry passed away, and although he spends few words on it, the loss weighed heavily on him. Larry had been the first to encourage him to put pen to paper and to champion him as a writer.