Twenty Chickens for a Saddle

When Robyn Scott was seven her parents left the tranquil hills of New Zealand, taking their three small children to live in the wild Botswana bush, where they grew up collecting snakes, canoeing with crocodiles and breaking in horses in the veld. Returning to the country where Robyn's eccentric grandfather had served as a pilot to Seretse Khama, Botswana's first, beloved president, her parents continued in his pioneering and unconventional footsteps.
This is the extraordinary story of the family's fifteen years in Botswana, during which Robyn's mother single-handedly homeschooled the three children, and her father ran a flying doctor practice, attempting, with often unexpected results, to adapt his experience to the unique demands of a rural practice and the growing problem of Aids.
A delightful account of an education where dissecting a snake is the closest Robyn and her brother and sister come to a biology lesson, and children from the cattle posts are their only classmates, Twenty Chickens for a Saddle is also a unique insight into modern Botswana. Set against the backdrop of one of Africa's rare democratic success stories battling with one of the continent's worst Aids crises, this book remains an uplifting, engaging and deeply affectionate portrayal of an extraordinary place and family. When Robyn Scott was six years old her parents abruptly exchanged the tranquil pastures of New Zealand for a converted cowshed in the wilds of Botswana. Once there, Robyn and her siblings, mostly left to amuse themselves, grew up collecting snakes, canoeing with crocodiles and breaking in horses in the veld. In the shadow of one of Africa's worst AIDS crises, this moving, enchanting memoir is an extraordinary portrait of an unforgettable childhood.

A BBC Radio Four Book of the Week