Bat Valley and Other Strange African Animal Stories by Robert Gurney, Paperback | Indigo Chapters

The object of desire at the heart of ‘The Jaguar Men of Kiziba’ is the last King of Rwanda’s Jaguar Mk5 coupé. Based on a true story, it includes Princess Margaret’s state visit to Uganda. The main character’s weakness, envy, leads to a dramatic ending. ‘The Lungfish Man of Mbazi’ has a relatively happy dénouement. It involves a research programme at Bat Valley linked to space exploration that almost ends in disaster for the researcher. ‘The Mount Elgon Waiter’ culminates, in a Fawlty Towers-like scene in a tourist hotel, in a reference to witchcraft. ‘The Moth Lady of Tororo’ finds an ageing British lawyer almost falling for a glamorous young post-grad student in a swimming pool situated in a hotel near the Uganda-Kenya border. ‘The Kampala Shopping Mall Ostrich Man’ examines the disgraceful behaviour of a married Lothario. ‘The Owl Man of Mukuno’ is a dark tale involving an Englishman, his Mugandan wife and his mother-in-law. ‘The Bat Valley University Praying Mantis Man’ delves deeply into a work by the surrealist artist M. C. Escher: ‘Dream’. ‘The Snake Lady of Nakasero’ involves a man’s deep fear of snakes, his efforts to overcome it, a doomed relationship and a fatal snakebite suffered during curfew. A fear of spiders is the subject of ‘The Spider Man of Gulu’. It features the spoiled daughter of a member of the British Establishment who overcomes her fear only to meet an unexpected end in the north of Uganda. ‘The Congolese Warthog Man’ relates how a man from Katanga, turning his back on the ivory trade, learns how to love a warthog. Finally, ‘Bat Valley’ tells the story of a man whose all-consuming interest in bats leads to near-disaster. ... and many more humorous tales. | Bat Valley and Other Strange African Animal Stories by Robert Gurney, Paperback | Indigo Chapters