I read this when traveling to Madagascar to get a sense of what the place was like. I found this book to be very descriptive, informative and enjoyable. Heather is a frog researcher. I was a bit bothered by how frogs are marked and what I learned about frog research, but setting that aside the rest of the book was very good. Heather talks about the nitty gritty of travel - getting from point A to B, what there is (or isn't) in the way of facilities and food, etc. But, mostly, she focuses on her interactions with the local Malagasy people and her life on the isolated island of Nosy Mangabe. Although she was there in the late 1990's, she probably didn't begin to foresee that Nosy Mangabe would become such a tourist island. Today, it is easier to reach and well worth the trip if you get to Madagascar. I found reading this gave me a much deeper appreciation and perspective on my trip than I would otherwise have had.