Wrestling with Rhinos

the long version

Graduating from veterinary college in 1965, Jerry Haigh is transported from Scotland to the wilds of Kenya where his first patient is a giraffe with a sore foot. Not having encountered many giraffes in Scotland, he turned to his knowledge of cattle to improvise a treatment and cure the animal. By turns poignant and amusing, this memoir reveals what life was like in post-independence Kenya, a nation just making the transition out of colonialism. While living on the slopes of Mount Kenya, Haigh encounters and treats rhinos, elephants, zebras, and pelicans, as well as cattle, including those of President Jomo Kenyatta. He also meets and marries a Dutch doctor, and they combine their lives and medical skills to help both human and animal patients.