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Zarafa was a gentle 19th-century giraffe, a simple animal whose life was dictated by the tumultuous times around her. From the African savanna where she was caught and tamed as an infant, Zarafa was shipped down the Nile--along with the meat of her mother and several hundred human slaves--to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. From there she sailed on to France, a gift from Muhammad Ali, the "Renaissance Barbarian" viceroy of Egypt, intended to distract King Charles X while Egyptian forces invaded Greece. As political ploy, it didn't work. But as ambassador from an exotic land, this odd animal captivated the French people for almost two decades, as she lived out her life as part of the royal menagerie.

Michael Allin intertwines natural history with a brutal chapter in the history of civilization, augmenting the clarity of both. This story of one docile animal contrasts sharply with those of the human profiteers, warmongers, and interlopers who ultimately decide her fate. But Zarafa's otherworldly charm also helps us to understand the intrigue that led Napoleon to bring not only his troops, but a small army of European intellectuals to study all aspects of Egyptian culture and history, in the invasion that sets up her story.

Gute Reise, liebes Buch und lass bald wieder etwas von dir hören!

Viel Spaß beim Lesen,
wünscht dir curlycat

"Bucher?", I asked the man the glasses polishing.

"Hey?"

"Sprekke der Anglische?"

"A little." he held his thumb and finger about a millimetre apart, but I think he had more English than I had Deutsch. I was seized with inspiration, and I dug out a book which had the yellow running book symbol on the cover, with words in German, as it happened.

He pointed around the corner, and oh mien Freunden, what a tresor! Books, books, buchen! I added my few and took this one. Zarafa will be heading back home with me!

We're back in australia, after a trip longer than Zarafa's in space, but far shorter in time. I was charmed by this book and finished the voyage somewhere over Europe. In the process, I learnt quite a bit about Egypt. Always a bit of a mystery to me as to how the British ended up with the place by WW2 and I learnt why, along with a lot of other things.

Very sad that the ancient civilisation - or at least its remains - is being lost at such a rate.

Zarafa herself, sweet and gentle giraffe, charmed thousands along her slow way to Paris and her long life in the zoo there. I particularly liked the image of her and her keeper snuggled up asleep together, head to head.

I'll pass this along at our next Canberra meeting, and thanks to the Viennese and their awesome OBCZ for this little treasure!

A book that should be released up high, a sort of literary giraffiti.

A lovely story about the charming giraffe and her travels.

Taking to meetup today in Civic

I picked this up at today's Bookcrossing meet at King O'Malley's Pub in Civic, ACT. Thank you.

An interesting story telling the history of the region at the time of Zarafa's journey, but I was expecting more of the book to be about her and her carers' travels. I wanted to be ‘lost’ in the story as she ambled across the countryside, but I wasn’t. Lots of facts, but without the balance of atmosphere.

Released at the 2013 Queenstown Bookcrossing Unconvention in New Zealand. Enjoy.

Added: The book was taken by a new reader.


To the finder, enjoy, and I hope you will write a journal entry so that previous readers will know that this book has been found (even anonymously). It is always a joy to find where it has gone. Once you've read this book, pass it on to a friend, or set it out "in the wild" for someone else to find as you did.
You can remain anonymous but if you are interested in joining please consider using - Goldenwattle as your referrer.
When you pass this book along, please make a release note to let others know where you left it. Thank you.
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Picked this up at the Queenstown unconvention because giraffes are my favourite animal. Also, it's non-fiction, history and travel. I couldn't resist it. It is going to jump to the front of the to-be-read queue.