Product Description

Wildlife, Murram and Bush is the story of Brian Dawtrey and his wife, Jo, both farm managers, and their three children, Caroline, Richard and Philip, who in 1962 leave their comfortable life in Norfolk for Tanganyika in the Dark Continent of Africa. His dream is to teach the Africans how to improve and maximise their natural resources. The government of Tanganyika accepts his request to work on the promotion of African food production and wildlife conservation schemes. It's a wonderful dream, but how could he prepare himself for such a daunting task? He takes us on an amazing adventure that is the start of 25 years' service. This is, above all, a family story, which is told with great compassion. The family have left behind a comfortable life in Norfolk for a precarious and uncertain one in Tanganyika. Everything is strange; nothing is easy and Brian is often overwhelmed by the many risks he is exposing his family to. At times the difficulties seem insurmountable. We empathise with the children too as they try to adapt to a different lifestyle. But despite the difficulties we are left with their feeling of excitement for all the new things that they are experiencing; a different culture, different people, animals and wildlife. Brian's light-hearted narrative which exudes enthusiasm and wit drives the story forward and shows how the family's excitement for their new life transcends the difficulties. He takes us on a roller-coaster ride to a part of the world that we hear little about firsthand. We empathise with the family's challenges and joys from the start, together with their genuine affection towards the African people and their real desire to improve their living. Wildlife, Murram and Bush is the true story of a loving family who sacrifice their own stability to help the people of Tanganyika create a better future for themselves. It shows how love, whether within the family or in the world at large, creates u

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #827711 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 276 pages

Best Of The World Ltd., Margaret Reece
Wildlife, Murram and Bush is the story of Brian Dawtrey and his wife, Jo, both farm managers, and their three children, Caroline, Richard and Philip, who in 1962 leave their comfortable life in Norfolk for Tanganyika in the Dark Continent of Africa. His dream is to teach the Africans how to improve and maximise their natural resources.

The government of Tanganyika accepts his request to work on the promotion of African food production and wildlife conservation schemes. It's a wonderful dream, but how could he prepare himself for such a daunting task? He takes us on an amazing adventure that is the start of 25 years' service. This is, above all, a family story, which is told with great compassion. The family have left behind a comfortable life in Norfolk for a precarious and uncertain one in Tanganyika. Everything is strange; nothing is easy and Brian is often overwhelmed by the many risks he is exposing his family to. At times the difficulties seem insurmountable. We empathise with the children too as they try to adapt to a different lifestyle. But despite the difficulties we are left with their feeling of excitement for all the new things that they are experiencing; a different culture, different people, animals and wildlife.

Brian's light-hearted narrative which exudes enthusiasm and wit drives the story forward and shows how the family's excitement for their new life transcends the difficulties. He takes us on a roller-coaster ride to a part of the world that we hear little about firsthand. We empathise with the family's challenges and joys from the start, together with their genuine affection towards the African people and their real desire to improve their living.

Wildlife, Murram and Bush is the true story of a loving family who sacrifice their own stability to help the people of Tanganyika create a better future for themselves. It shows how love, whether within the family or in the world at large, creates unity and transcends difficulties. This book will appeal to anyone with a sense of adventure.

Margaret Reece.
Best Of The World Ltd.

Lymington Times. MRL.
This 275-page book is the story of a family adventure during the early 1960s, which began when Brian Dawtrey, together with his wife Jo, their daughter Caroline, and sons Richard and Philip, embarked from
Tilbury to begin a new life in East Africa. Brian, a graduate in agriculture, was about to exchange a happy life working on the estate of a Norfolk landowner, for the position of Land Planning Officer with the newly independent Tanganyika Government. It was the start of an adventure that was to last 25 years working for Overseas Aid, promoting African food production and wildlife conservation schemes in Tanzania, Zambia and Nigeria.

The book opens with a useful map of the African continent upon which is marked the route of the Dawtreys' 5,000-mile sea voyage from London to Mombasa in Kenya, followed by a second map showing an extract of the Mbeya and Iringa region of Tanganyika (now Tanzania), where the family were to live. There are also some good black and white photographs. On their arrival in Africa, the family discovered the typical African hospitality which was to feature so often in their experiences, as when their taxi driver treated them as if they were his personal guests. Brian had no need to use the black umbrella given to him by his brother-in-law as a defence against 'primitive tribes intent on robbery.'
In fact, the family soon discovered that: 'African villagers appeared to own nothing and did not look upon ownership as a necessary ambition in life. Their viewpoint was that land and water was God's territory under the guardianship of the chief...'

Brian's ingenuity was well complemented by the supportive resource-fulness of his wife, Jo. Although even she could do little when, having transported a brand new Hoover washing machine all the way from
England, they discovered that their pleasant red-brick African house was wired for electric lights but had no power points! The children soon began exploring their new home, making the acquaintance of the cobras in the garden, and delighting in hearing African stories, including the gruesome tale of the cannibalistic Zimba tribe who '...ate their way up the coast from Zimbabwe to Mombasa.'
Their 4' 10" African cook, Samson, claimed to have been chosen to cook for H.M.The Queen Mother when she had visited Kenya. Jo decided to try out her Kiswahili on him and thought she had asked; 'For breakfast, Samson, eggs two fried in the medicine of cooking'. Unfortunately, she had actually said '...in the medicine for shoes', which resulted in the arrival of a plate of black eggs fried in shoe polish!

Brian's post was, by order of President Nyerere, to concentrate on settling Africans on the land as farmers, not serving white colonial farmers. His work left plenty of time to explore the wonders of the Dark Continent and its wildlife. This included a rhino watching expedition which nearly brought Brian's work in Africa to a premature end. Having encountered the formidable animal in a deep gully, they were forced to flee when the creature decided to vent its anger at being disturbed by their Land Rover. Unfortunately, the vehicle, unable to negotiate the steep sides of a gully, backed down onto the rhino's horn which became jammed under one of the Land Rover's back handles. With their game guard firing wildly, they managed to free the vehicle, but only after one of the bullets had hit the radiator!
Freed unharmed, but furious, the rhino chased the guard, finally unleashing a torrent of urine over the hapless man, who nevertheless survived to tell the tale.
An equally disconcerting experi-ence was the family's first meeting with a black mamba, one of the world's most deadly snakes. Brian calmly recalls that his book said "... recognised by a black lining to its throat and only bites when molested or handled badly...'

This entertaining book is full of such remarkable tales, written with an immediacy which makes the reader feel they are themselves adventuring in an Africa which has passed beyond the vision of today's
society, and makes this book hard to put down.
It was a time of great change, when people like the Dawtrey family dedicated a large part of their lives to rectifying the injustices done to the native tribes of Africa by their imposed colonial past. As Brian himself writes: "The curious thing about our encounter with Masai was not our good fortune to meet men who are powerfully free, but the feeling that we might be the misfits in this world."

Customer Reviews

A great read!
I couldnt put this book down! You really feel like you're along for the adventure.

A true family story
Wildlife, Murram and Bush is the story of Brian Dawtrey and his wife, Jo, both farm managers, and their three children who in 1962 leave their comfortable life in Norfolk for Tanganyika in the Dark Continent of Africa. His dream is to teach the Africans how to improve and maximise their natural resources.
Brian takes us on an amazing adventure that is the start of 25 years' service.
This is, above all, a family story, which is told with great compassion. The family have left behind a comfortable life in Norfolk for a precarious and uncertain one in Tanganyika. Nothing is easy and Brian is often overwhelmed by the many risks he is exposing his family to. At times the difficulties seem insurmountable. But despite the difficulties we are left with their feeling of excitement for all the new things that they are experiencing; a different culture, different people, animals and wildlife.
Brian's light-hearted narrative which exudes enthusiasm and wit drives the story forward and shows how the family's excitement for their new life transcends the difficulties. He takes us on a roller-coaster ride to a part of the world that we hear little about firsthand.
Wildlife, Murram and Bush is the true story of a loving family who sacrifice their own stability to help the people of Tanganyika create a better future for themselves. It shows how love, whether within the family or in the world at large, creates unity and transcends difficulties. This book will appeal to anyone with a sense of adventure.