Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine

The book, Last Chance to See, by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine describes the quest by these two intrepid explorers and NPR sound technicians to identify rare birds, animals and aquatic creatures near the edge of extinction. As safety is of great concern in Australia they make contact with the world expert in poisonous snakes Dr. Struan Sutherland. His sage advice with a brief diversion into the wonders of hydroponics is to not get bitten. This section reads as it was lifted out of a Monty Python sketch.

They encounter a white rhino which is rather more gray than white, several komodo dragons, a gorilla, a rare parakeet, and some not so rare fruit bats. Along the way they bump into several transportation snafus, time wasting bureaucrats, mid-western tourists, and well meaning Chinese citizens with an unexpected flair for eco-friendly marketing.

The trip had many of the absurd plot twists of the Adams earlier book, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  The message about conservation and the very difficult task of keeping these creatures alive is made clear without being overly preachy. Many of the problems stem from island creatures being isolated and being ill prepared for the strong competition between species on larger land masses when these animals (cats, rats, etc.) are accidentally introduced into these island ecosystems.

This book was a real treat to read over Father's Day weekend. Thanks to Barb H. from work for  loaning it to me. We discovered that both of us had the unfortunate experience of just missing out on the opportunity to hear Douglas Adams speak before he died in 2001 at the age of 49.

Last Chance to see Zaire part 1- 10 min.

 

Aye-Aye - Douglas Adams - 1985 -  4 min.