All Things Strange and Wonderful: My Adventures as a Vet in Africa

by Dr. Reb

As a newly graduated vet Dr. Reb signed up for a two-year stint with the Peace Corp Volunteers, and found himself in Malawi. A national fuel shortage meant no delivery of supplies, and he had to improvise at every turn.

Then he was introduced to a local witch doctor, Dr. Mzimba, and two very sick puppies, Skippy and Bozo. After shaking my hand, Dr. Mzimba took hold of both of my wrists and turned them over so that the palms faced upward. As he studied them, they began to tingle. The Peace Corps had given me extensive crosscultural training, but I didn’t recall anything about greetings of this nature. Then he stared into my eyes and while the tingling in my hands began to fade, my cheeks now felt as if an electrical charge was passing through them. Through a smile that filled his face, he said, “I’ve been waiting a long time for you, Dokotala.”

So began Dr. Reb’s strange and wonderful adventures, where he discovered that in Africa anything can happen and usually does, especially when puppies become your companions in body as well as spirit.

Dr Reb grew up and studied in the USA. While he was working as a vet in Africa he met his wife Karen. They returned to live in the USA where they had two children. Dr Reb spent the next twenty years treating domestic and large animals before returning to Africa with his family. He and Karen now live in Western Australia where he currently works for the Australian Commonwealth Government's Department of Agriculture, helping Australian farmers feed the world.

252 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2016

About the author

H.J. Rebhan (Dr Reb) is a veterinarian and author who has practiced mixed-animal medicine across the United States, sub-Saharan Africa, and Australia for more than four decades. That breadth of experience—the strange, the sacred, and the brutally ordinary —has shaped everything he writes.
His first book, All Things Strange and Wonderful (Finch Publishing, 2016), drew on his experience as a veterinarian in Malawi, Central Africa, discovering the unexpected grace found in the Malawian people and the natural world. It was subsequently translated into Chinese.
He is currently completing a five-book literary speculative fiction series, Throne of Fear and Pain, and a work of contemplative nonfiction, The Hand at Your Throat, which draws on Christian mysticism, Sufism, Zen, and Vedantic philosophy alongside his clinical experience of life and death in the field.
He lives in Queensland, Australia.

Reviews

[Diane in Australia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book about a vet's life in Malawi, Africa. He relates stories about all areas of his life, not just vet medicine, which I found to be most interesting. As he had become deeply enmeshed in the locals' lives, it was hard to leave at the end of his Peace Corps stint.

3 Stars = Okay. It was worth reading.

[Sara Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

這本書描寫一個在馬拉威當獸醫的故事

很喜歡這本書主角的善良，也喜歡他融入當地文化、描寫當地文化的趣聞

一本有趣、有智慧 也溫暖的書

[Alayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a gift for Mothers Day, and I read it straight through. A humorous, sad, wonderful book, set in Malawi some years ago when the author was a young man in his mid twenties, working as a vet for the Peace Corps. Highly recommended.

[Ally Yang]

【26 April 2025 / kobo99】

[elly readz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr Reb gifted me this book last year in my final year of vet school while on placement where I met him. Reb truly has a one of a kind personality and inspired me a lot as I learnt from him in my short placement at the clinic.

This book was an easy page turner and it was fascinating to learn about Reb’s unique start to his veterinary career in Malawi. It made it even more enjoyable being able to read this book with Reb’s accent and characteristic mannerism.

I would love if the book had some photos of Reb in Malawi or even a map of all the places he frequented in his 2 years there.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very interesting story, set in Africa, as a newly graduated vet tries to find his place in the scheme of things. Superstition, lack of education, lack of money and equipment, the terrible poverty, all play their part as this man does his humane best to help not only the animals but the people around him. I had to suspend my disbelief in some of the things that he says happened; at the same time accepting that "there are more things in heaven and earth etc etc". An easy to read story with lots of lovely anecdotes.

[Frances Blair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Story

I thought this would be another nice vet memoir. It turned out to be much more. You won't be disappointed!

[Robyn Davill · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable thought provoking read covering African mysticism, friendships with Malawi locals, Aids, arm wrestling, muddy motor bike wrangling as well as animal stories. All this happened while young Dr Reb was on a 2 year on a contract with the Peace Corp in rural Malawi.

[Jess Rivera · Rating 2 out of 5]

Big white savior energy throughout the entire book. The only reason we got to 2 stars is because of Ruth and because the realization that Ewadabani is Inabadawe spelled backwards blew my mind

[Kayleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could NOT put this book down! I am a slow reader, but I devoured this book in days! I found it to be so interesting and entertaining! LOVED IT!

[Clyde Yang · Rating 3 out of 5]

The way the author sounds like he is writing a non-fiction and how dramatic things went in the book made me wonder what book this is