Then, in 1981, a teacher from Mauritius called Raymond Aquis was teaching at a school in Rodrigues and gave his class pictures of about ten plants that were thought to be extinct on Mauritius. The plant was a kind of wild coffee called Ramus mania, and it had been believed to be totally extinct. We finally made it to Rodrigues, a small island dependency of Mauritius, to look for the world’s rarest fruitbat, but first of all we went to look at something that Wendy Strahm was very keen for us to see – so much so that she rearranged her regular Rodrigues-visiting schedule to take us there herself.īy the side of a hot and dusty road there was a single small bushy tree that looked as if it had been put in a concentration camp. There’s not a lot of botany in it, and that’s a pity when you see the book includes writing like this: Not only is Douglas Adams bemused by the wildlife, but also by the people who either try to preserve it or, more often, get in the way of it. The journey starts with the aye-aye of Madagascar and takes in New Zealand, Indonesia, China and Mauritius and Zaire. However between them, Adams and Carwardine manage to balance the tragedy of the species that are one storm away from being wiped out, and the absurdity of a world that makes this happen. It would have been easy to write this book badly. Douglas would be bewildered by the wildlife and Mark would explain to Douglas what he was looking at.

The idea was that Douglas Adams would travel the world with Mark Carwardine looking for species on the verge of extinction. It’s connected to – but not the same as – the radio series of the same name that Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine made for BBC Radio 4. Last Chance to See is the best thing Douglas Adams ever wrote – with Mark Carwardine. For Darwin Day, I’m sharing my favourite science book.

Last chance to see douglas adams