After a less than happy departure from Senegal, the Itinerant Ecologist and his family arrive back to their home in rural south-east France to begin the process of settling into a new life in Europe. But nothing is ever going to be simple for them; the Gods of Fate long ago decreed that! No sooner than arrived back in France and the family must decide whether or not to follow Malcolm to a new post in The Gambia.Read about their many adventures in this tiny and charming African country where the President stops for an evening drink and the proud Hash tradition is debased by French indiscipline.Their story goes on to see Malcolm and Veronique set up a small consulting company, first based in France and then in the UK that provides them with work, travel and adventures for more than ten years. During this time, the children turn from youngsters to teenagers and then to young adults. Their periods of residency in France and England are interspersed with short and long stays for work in a multitude of African nations and, as time proceeds and they gently age, so the demands of their little company continue to grow.Follow the Ecologist as he discovers the beauty of Botswana, Madagascar and Guinea while needing to keep a cool head in Niger, Sierra Leone and Malawi. The tales of their humorous, and sometimes not so-humorous, adventures are interspersed with descriptions of nature that Malcolm so loves. Read for example about the mudskippers and catfish in The Gambia, the bull elephant and crocodiles in Botswana, the enchanting lemurs and delicious lobsters of Madagascar and the regal baobabs of Senegal.'Sapphires, Monkey-Bread and a Coup d'Etat' is the third book in the series that follows this charming family as they face difficult moments head-on while benefitting from their traditional luck to weave a complicated and often humorous life together as they continue their adventures through the Itinerant Ecologist series.