David Attenborough, Dion Leonard (Finding Gobi), Dervla Murphy and Brian Jackman are just four of the authors whose work features in a new anthology focusing on true stories about travelling with animals.
I am hugely proud to report that as Frances & Michael Howorth we each also have a story published in the same book entitled Beastly Journeys
The animals in these stories are as varied as the journeys, large and small, domestic or wild, compliant or reluctant.
All, in their way, made the human journey special and all remind us of the affection that we humans feel for animals
In Beastly Journeys, there are 46 tales of extraordinary animal travel experiences, from hilarious holidays with pets to journeys on which wild animals somehow came along for the ride.
Take this snippet from Sir David Attenborough trying to get an armadillo through Paraguayan customsas an example:
‘What are those animals, please?’ asked the airline representative.
‘Armadillos. They are rather charming little creatures, actually, with hard protective shells.’
‘Oh, tortoises.’
‘No. Armadillos.’
‘Maybe they are a kind of lobster.’
‘No, they are not lobsters,’ I said patiently. ‘They are armadillos.’
In other stories, adventurer Ash Dykes takes a white cockerel to Maromokotro to ward off evil spirits; Mike Gerrard shares a car journey from Belsize Park to Canvey Island with a python; Brian Jackman rides, walks and swims with Abu the elephant; Bradt New Travel Writer of the Year Dom Tulett rows with a kingfisher; and John Rendall travels to Africa with Christian, the lion he bought at Harrods and raised in west London.
Also included is a brand new piece of writing from ultra marathon runner Dion Leonard about his experience with Gobi, the stray dog who accompanied him for 80 miles over the treacherous Tian Shian mountains.
A mix of new, previously unpublished writers and old favourites are included, with extracts from writers such as Mark Shand (Travels on my Elephant), Dervla Murphy (Eight Feet in the Andes) and Robert Louis Stevenson (Travels with a Donkey), not to mention Gerald Durrell, 19th-century explorer Isabella Bird and renowned publisher Michael Joseph.
The book is compelling, engaging, surprising, humorous and entertaining – if it book proves one thing it’s that travel with animals is every bit as unpredictable as you would expect it to be.
Published by Bradt Travel Guides now the largest independently owned travel guide publisher in the UK, Beastly Journeys is one of over 200 titles currently in print.
- ISBN: 9781784770815
- Published: 5th Jun 2018
- Edited by: Hilary Bradt, Jennifer Barclay
- Format: Paperback
- Size: 130 x 198mm
- Price £10.99