Tui de Roy/Minden/FLPA

Magazine.

Kakapos: fat, flightless and far from and flightless Kakapos: fat, extinction. from safe The final stop on our tour tour our on stop final The China, been should have river Yangtze the but declared was dolphin there. got we before extinct

WILD THOUGHTS WILD MARK CARWARDINEMARK While our travels can hardly be considered a global global a considered be hardly can travels our While The final stop on our world tour should have been China, China, been have should tour world our on stop final The That there are any left left any are there That On the other side of the I remember flying down the east coast of Madagascar in Madagascar of coast east the down flying remember I But my overriding impression is to do with conservation. my overriding But Our journey has left me with a mind-boggling mishmash mishmash mind-boggling a with me left has journey Our against the tide, let alone making significant progress. again it felt as if conservation was barely (if at all) holding scientific review, our findings really shocked us. Time and Time us. shocked really findings our review, scientific declared extinct before we could get there. to look for the Yangtze river dolphin, but that was officially officially was that but dolphin, river Yangtze the for look to the species is still teetering on the brink of extinction. 124 a safe and healthy population. There is no denying that kakapo’s protection, but by no stretch of the imagination is is imagination the of stretch no by but protection, kakapo’s determination and dedication of the people charged with thedetermination and dedication of the people charged at all is a tribute to the the to tribute a is all at figure of 124. just clawed its way up to a season in years, it has has it years, in season most successful breeding birds, but following the an all-time low of just 40 40 just of low all-time an kakapo population hit hit population kakapo visit 20 years ago, the the ago, years 20 visit the kakapo. During my my During kakapo. the least-able-to-fly parrot – parrot least-able-to-fly world’s largest, fattest and and fattest largest, world’s we went in search of the world, in New Zealand, world, in New was virtually no forest left. stretch of coast – and there there and – coast of stretch the window at the same later, we stared out of of out stared we later, exactly two decades decades two exactly stretched as far as the eye could see. Sitting next to Stephen,eye could see. Sitting stretched as far as the 1989, over an almost continuous swathe of rainforest that that rainforest of swathe continuous almost an over 1989, And I’m afraid it’s not good. And I’m afraid it’s can learn a new language in just three weeks. can learn a new language hates camping, for example, and the astonishing fact that he he that fact astonishing the and example, for camping, hates of memories and impressions: exactly how much Stephen Stephen much how exactly impressions: and memories of make a BBC series about our findings. make a BBC series about collection of endangered animals have been coping and tocollection of endangered , to learn how a motley motley a how learn to , for a book entitled Last Chance to See on a similar journey 20 years earlier with Douglas Adams, Adams, Douglas with earlier years 20 journey similar a on Stephen Fry. Our plan was to retrace the steps I had taken taken had I steps the retrace to was plan Our Fry. Stephen months or so is that I’ve been criss-crossing the globe with with globe the criss-crossing been I’ve that is so or months The reason I haven’t written this column for the past six six past the for column this written haven’t I reason The in BBC Wildlife all about it autumn and read Last Chance to See to in Last Chance on BBC1 in the see Mark and Stephen can You