Twigger, about to get married, needed a goal, and his roommate solved his problem by discovering there was a $50,000 award being offered by the Wildlife Conservation Society of New York to anyone who could bring back a live snake over thirty feet long. (Seems a rather bizarre award for a conservation society, but then what do I know?) Anacondas, the snake one usually thinks of as being large, rarely exceed eighteen feet in length, so the python seemed the best bet and they live in southeast Asia.

Twigger is one of those travel writers who engage your interest telling a seemingly irrelevant story chocked full of information. The python, for example, can be rather disgusting. When asked the worst thing about pythons, a snake expert Twigger consulted replied, “When they shit on you. It can be very liquid, white urea mixed with black faeces. Sometimes they spray it all over you, very pungent. And a fifteen foot python can produce a lot of crap.” It also takes at least a twenty-five-foot snake to eat a man. “But if it did, there’d be nothing left except your gold fillings and maybe your wristwatch.” The last-ditch protection against an attacking snake is to ram snuff down its throat. The nicotine is absorbed almost instantly by the snake’s chemo-receptive Jacobsen’s organ and the snake dies almost instantly.

Now, think about that. That’s really useful information. In any case, off Twigger trots for Kawala Lampur and Buru, where he meets and describes the local villagers in his quest for the big one. Often the hunt for the snake takes second place to his travelogue of the jungles, but his descriptions of local customs, food, and the impact of logging on local communities is entertaining and informative. The result of the hunt I will leave for you to discover. I did find it anticlimactic, however. ( )

This book is part memoir, part travelogue, and part adventure story. Twigger, who knows nothing about snakes or the jungle, decides that it would be a good idea to try to win a $50,000 prize by catching a snake over 30 feet long. Along the way he learns a lot about snakes and so do we, like why you want to carry snuff into the jungle with you. But even though there is a lot of information here he kinds of sneaks it in a little at a time and you don't always even realize that you are learning something because it fits in so well with the flow of the story. And in his quest he enlists the help of some very colorful characters who are eager to help even if they don't understand what it is he is doing. And as he introduces you to all the people he meets along the way you learn about their culture and their land. You also get a look into his own life and stories about his grandfather that make the story more personal. At turns informative, funny and exciting it is worth a look if you like stories about adventure and exploration, even if you don't care that much about snakes. The ending did seem a bit abrupt though so it was slightly unsatisfying. ( )

Snakes > Size/Snake hunting/Twigger, Robert, 1964- > Travel