Who's Oliver?

By Brian Dawtrey

Brian Dawtrey with his wife and three children spent twenty four years working in the Overseas Aid programme in Africa.

Brian was an Honorary Wildlife Ranger and a onetime Chairman of the Wildlife Conservation Society of Zambia, in addition to his normal duties.

Brian loves the natural world which led him to feel sympathy for the ostriches that have to eek-out a living in desert environments. His imagination led him to visualize a holiday for an ostrich, with his grandchildren, in England’s ‘green and pleasant land’.

Brian has published three biographical books in his series headed Wild Africa, and Life At Home Farm.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Legend Press
• Release date: Oct 5, 2018
• ISBN: 9781789553062

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Oliver

Would you like to hear a story about a friend of mine? Yes? Well it's a bit unusual. My friend is an ostrich! His name is Oliver. Only special ostriches have names you know, and they usually begin with a capital letter O. Ostriches have a proud nature; it shows in the way that they hold their heads high up, in a rather haughty way, camels do the same thing; you must have seen a picture of a camel? Some ostriches like being given titles, like Sir; for example Sir Ogleby Ostrich. That's Oliver's dad actually, Sir Ogleby Ostrich; rather posh isn't it! His son Oliver, however, doesn't care about titles, he's just plain OLIVER. It's enough, mind you! I have to tell you that where ever Oliver is there is TROUBLE.

Oliver always wanted to be an ordinary, friendly, chap, but he was hatched to be mischievous, he can't really help that, can he? On the other hand he is the truest friend you’ll ever find, and he will listen to you whenever you talk to him. He is quite a chatterbox mind you, and he does love clowning about and making people laugh, so a dignified title would not be appropriate; don't you agree? So, it's plain Oliver. He doesn't have a second name like we do, but if he did it would be Oliver Trouble.

When Oliver grew up a bit, he became tired of playing with baby ostriches on the dry dusty plains of Africa and, being adventurous he loved to take long walks, and he soon decided that he wanted to see the rest of the world.

One day his chance came. A puff of dust on the plain grew larger and larger until an engine could be heard, and an old green Land Rover appeared.

Oliver said to his friend Opus It's that surveyor back again. He measures everything; he's got a very, very long measuring tape, and he walks about sticking red and white poles in the ground. And he has a thing like a clock that he holds in his hand and stares down at whilst he's walking. I wonder he doesn’t bump into a thorn bush, or fall down an aardvark hole, he never looks where he's going.

Oliver spoke to the surveyor last year when