Last Chance to See - Douglas Adams [0]
“He Invites Us to Enter Into a Conspiracy
Of Laughter and Caring.”
Los Angeles Times
“Lively, sharply satirical, brilliantly written … It shows how human care can undo what human carelessness has wrought.”
The Atlantic
“Funny, exciting and intelligent … These authors don’t hesitate to present the alarming facts: More than 1,000 species of animals (and plants) become extinct every year.… Perhaps Adams and Carwardine, with their witty science, will help prevent such misadventures in the future.”
Boston Sunday Herald
“A bittersweet but often funny tale of nature’s marvelous diversity and mankind’s single-minded destructiveness. With droll wit, a keen eye for detail and heavy doses of insight (often provided by Carwardine and others), Adams makes us laugh until we cry.”
San Diego Union
“Adams and Carwardine here relate the details of their serious quests in lively fashion. Whether stalking the kakapo over rough terrain or searching for condoms in China, they keep their sense of humor. This is an excellent choice for readers who enjoy natural history, travel and adventure.”
Publishers Weekly
Also by Douglas Adams
THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE
LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING
So LONG, AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH
MOSTLY HARMLESS
THE ULTIMATE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
THE SALMON OF DOUBT
THE ORIGINAL HITCHHIKER RADIO SCRIPTS
DIRK GENTLY’S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY
THE LONG DARK TEA-TIME OF THE SOUL
THE MEANING OF LIFF (with John Lloyd)
THE DEEPER MEANING OF LIFF (with John Lloyd)
THE UTTERLY, UTTERLY MERRY COMIC RELIEF
CHRISTMAS BOOK (edited with Peter Fincham)
Also by Mark Carwardine
ICELAND: NATURE’S MEETING PLACE
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD WILDLIFE
THE ANIMAL ATLAS BIRDS IN FOCUS
THE WWF ENVIRONMENT HANDBOOK
WILDLIFE IN THE NEWS (with John Craven)
A Ballantine Book
Published by The Random House Publishing Group
Copyright © 1990 Serious Productions Ltd. and Mark Carwardine
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Originally published in Great Britain by William Heinemann Ltd. in 1990. This edition published by arrangement with Harmony Books, a member of the Crown Publishing Group.
Ballantine and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
www.ballantinebooks.com
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 92-90051
eISBN: 978-0-307-80503-4
Komodo dragon, White rhinoceros, Tropic bird
© Mark Carwardine/Biotica
v3.1
FOR ALAIN LE GARSMEUR
Contents
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
PREFACE
TWIG TECHNOLOGY
HERE BE CHICKENS
LEOPARD-SKIN PILLBOX HAT
HEARTBEATS IN THE NIGHT
BLIND PANIC
RARE, OR MEDIUM RARE?
MARK’S EPILOGUE
SIFTING THROUGH THE EMBERS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ONE MORE CHANCE …
Preface
This book is about a series of journeys that Mark Carwardine and I went on to look for some of the world’s rarest and most endangered animals, and one or two that aren’t quite so endangered but will be pretty soon if we don’t watch out. The trip to Madagascar was in 1985, and the others were made over a period of about ten months in 1988 and 1989.
The photographer Alain le Garsmeur came with us to Madagascar, but we were unable to persuade him to give up the best part of a year to come with us on the other trips, so Mark and I took all the photographs in this book. Any of them that are any good are so as a result of Alain’s advice, help, and enthusiasm. Any that aren’t as good as they should be would have been better if he’d been there to take them himself.
All the trips, other than the one to Madagascar, were recorded for BBC Radio. The producer of the series was Gaynor Shutte. She came with us to Indonesia and New Zealand to record us in the field and make sure that we basically knew what we were doing. Chris Muir was the sound recordist in Zaïre and China, and Stephen Faux recorded us in Mauritius.
Mark did the tough bits.