Summary
Travelling to some of the remotest parts of the world, the two presenters went in search of creatures on the brink of extinction. Here, Mark Carwardine highlights just a few of his favourite finds Amazonian manatee These large, gentle mammals have forelimbs that have modified into flippers, and a paddle at the rear of their body. When Douglas and I set off to find them 20 years ago, we only saw a pair of nostrils disappearing underwater. But Stephen and I found a rescue centre, where an orphaned manatee was about to be released into the wild. We both found it deeply moving, because the rescuers showed such love and tenderness to the little manatee. Here, on our first few weeks together, I saw just how deeply out of his comfort zone Stephen was. We slept on a tiny wooden boat with nowhere for Stephen to plug in his mobile phone or laptop. He was so optimistic that he always carried several phones in the hope of getting a signal in the middle of the Amazon. The crew and I quickly realised that if we wanted Stephen to trek up a hill, we only had to say, 'There's probably a signal there,' and he would hike up without complaining. He never found a signal, but he did lose more than four stone.
Northern white rhino Nine months after Stephen's accident, we resumed our journey. We flew to the Democratic Republic of Congo to find the northern white rhino. We planned to go into the Garamba National Park to find it, but we were warned by UN forces that the park was swarming with rebel soldiers. Stephen's high profile meant that we would be at risk of kidnap. It was such a tough decision - we had come on a mission, and it was so hard not to just travel across the river and face the danger. Sadly, we decided not to risk it. Instead, we sat among a family of mountain gorillas in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest just over the border in Uganda. One baby gorilla even tripped over Stephen's size 12 boots, and the mother gave him such a glare.See the full content of this document
Extract
Clinging On for Dear Life...
Aye-aye In Madagascar, this gremlinlike creature is thought to bring bad luck. It is killed on sight, and we were stunned to learn t...
See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
