Zarafa: A Giraffe's True Story
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Average rating3
In October 1826 a ship arrived at Marseille carrying the first giraffe ever seen in France. A royal offering from Muhammad Ali, Ottoman Viceroy of Egypt, to King Charles X, she had already traveled 2,000 miles down the Nile to Alexandria, from where she had sailed across the Mediterranean standing in the hold, her long neck and head protruding through a hole cut in the deck. In the spring of 1827, after wintering in Marseille, she was carefully walked 550 miles to Paris, to the delight of thousands of onlookers. Zarafa chronicles the full story of this remarkable animal, revealing a kaleidoscope of history, science, and culture that opens an exotic window on the early nineteenth century.
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I quite enjoyed this book - more the parts actually about the giraffe than the history lesson, but as a whole I have it in there with a solid 3 stars.
Other reviewers have criticised the non-giraffe aspects of the book, but without this history, there would be so many unanswered questions. There would necessarily be references to many people and without the background to their actions and motivations it would be a confusing read. Even now, I am less than convinced I have a clue about the history of Egypt and France in this era. Also it would be a very short book if it was limited to the giraffe telling.
On a side note, I can't tell whether this edition of the physical book, being rather narrow for its height is a subtle nod to the Giraffe, or whether this was a necessary device to reduce text width and pad this book out to its 215 pages! Anyways, some nice reproductions of sketches, maps etc and the book itself is rather nice.
3 stars
