Leopard at the Lodge

Animal Ark [GB Order] #44

by Lucy Daniels (Pseudonym)

Mandy and James are on holiday with Mr and Mrs Hope as they visit an old friend who works on a lodge in South Africa. While they are there, they meet resident big cat expert, Sandie Howard,, who tells them about Leela, a leopard cub who was found abandoned some years back and who has been raised on the site. Leela has a tracking device and has recently had cubs of her own. But when the tracking device goes out of range, Sandie is concerned - she never usually wanders far. When they eventually find Leela it looks like she's been drugged, and her cubs taken. Sandie says there are smugglers who steal leopard cubs for unscrupulous private collectors and she thinks this is what might have happened. Mandy discovers evidence incriminating some mystery visitors to the area and eventually they track down the cubs and return them to their mother.

Genres: Animals, Childrens, Fiction, Cats

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 20, 2000

About the author

Lucy Daniels is the collective name for the writing team that created the bestselling children's book series Animal Ark, many of the books are also published under the name of the series creator, Ben M. Baglio.

Reviews

[Sammy]

I was completely obsessed with this series of books when I was a child and my aim was to read every single book. They are a really good children's series.

[Taylor Troncin]

Loved this series when I was younger. Still a huge animal lover and would like to read the rest of this series!

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of 35 or so books that Scholastic in America would choose not to publish. It's the first book of the South Africa trilogy (not to be confused with the Animal Ark in Africa! Trilogy, which happened about 20 books previously.) Why Scholastic skipped this trilogy, too, is unknown. It could be because there were references to previous books not published by Scholastic, either ... but I've got a feeling I might be overthinking this.

The real author was Susan Bently, who wrote many, many books in the Animal Ark Universe. The illustrator is Ann Baum, who proves here that she can do wild animals as well as pets and livestock. She does not only leopards, but a jackal, a baboon, eagles, an eland and ...

... wait for it ...

a HYRAX. Now, how cool is that? If you don't know what a hyrax is, Google it now. Believe it or not, they are closely related to elephants.

I think the character Sandie might have been based on the Adamsons -- they of the Born Free fame, where they did rescue wild cats like Elsa the lioness and release them successfully into the wild. There is also a Diane Fossey vibe about her. There is no reason given for how Leela the leopard got her name, but I wonder if it was from one of the most memorable companions from Doctor Who.

I read this book just over two years ago and have already forgotten it. It's not the most memorable book, since it's similar to several other Animal Ark books. Here, the subject of the exotic animal trade is addressed ... and the absolute arseholes involved in it.

James is with the Hopes this time, too. Because ... Animal Ark. He's still 11 and Mandy is still 12, despite at least five Christmas Specials, another holiday in Africa, as well as America, six months in Australia and about a zillion other holidays. Because ... Animal Ark.