A William Heinemann book
Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd
Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060
www.randomhouse.com.au

First published by William Heinemann in 2009
Copyright © Annette Henderson 2009

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia.

Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at
www.randomhouse.com.au/offices.

National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication Entry

Henderson, Annette Elizabeth, 1945–.
Wild spirit.

ISBN 978 1 74166 671 7 (pbk).
Henderson, Annette – Travel.
Anthropologists – Gabon – Biography.
Culture shock – Gabon.
Endangered species – Effect of human beings on – Gabon.
Gorilla – Conservation – Gabon.
Gabon – Description and travel.

301.092

Cover photograph © Annette Henderson
Cover design by Christabella Designs

The quote on Chapter Sixteen is taken from One Dry Season: In the Footsteps of Mary Kingsley, by Caroline Alexander, and is reproduced with the permission of Caroline Alexander and Bloomsbury Publishing.

The names of some of the people in this book have been changed to protect their privacy.