Mark Carwardine (IPA: /kɑː'wɔːdiːn/car-WOR-dean; born 9 March 1959) is a British conservationist who achieved widespread recognition with his 20-yearconservation project –Last Chance to See – which involved round-the-world expeditions withDouglas Adams andStephen Fry. The first series was aired onBBC Radio 4 in 1990, and the second, a TV series, onBBC2 in 2009. There are two books about the project:Last Chance to See, which he co-wrote with Adams (1990), andLast Chance to See: In the footsteps of Douglas Adams (2009). He is a leading and outspoken conservationist, and a prolific broadcaster, columnist and photographer.

Mark Carwardine
Born	(1959-03-09)9 March 1959 (age 66)
Known for	Conservationist, zoologist, presenter, photographer and author
Website	www.markcarwardine.com

Carwardine has written more than fifty books. Most recently he has written the ground-breakingHandbook of Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises (Bloomsbury 2019) and wildlife photography eBooks (2020). In 2009, he wroteLast Chance to See: In the Footsteps of Douglas Adams (HarperCollins). This is a sequel to the best-selling book,Last Chance to See, which he wrote with the lateDouglas Adams (author ofThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). A new edition was published in 2020 to celebrate its thirtieth anniversary. Other books that Carwardine has written includeMark Carwardine's Guide to Whale Watching in North America (Bloomsbury, 2017),Mark Carwardine's Guide to Whale Watching in Britain and Europe (Bloomsbury, 2016), the award-winningShark Watcher's Handbook andEyewitness Handbooks: Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises, which is the best-selling cetacean field guide ever published (nearly a million copies in print).^{[citation needed]} Carwardine also writes a monthly column inBBC Wildlife magazine, and has written hundreds of articles for newspapers and magazines.

In 1989 theBBC Radio 4 seriesLast Chance to See and the subsequent book (1990) described eight expeditions by Carwardine and writerDouglas Adams to find and report on some of the most endangered species around the world. These were theaye-aye in Madagascar, theKomodo dragon inIndonesia, thekākāpō inNew Zealand, theAmazonian manatee inBrazil, theYangtze river dolphin inChina, theJuan Fernández fur seal inChile, thenorthern white rhino in theDemocratic Republic of the Congo, and theRodrigues fruit bat inMauritius.

Carwardine also presented the weekly half-hour radio programme Nature, on BBC Radio 4, for many years. He has also been the presenter of many other programmes for BBC Radio 4.

In autumn 2009, he joined forces withStephen Fry to present a follow-up to the originalLast Chance to See with the late Douglas Adams. This was the six-partBBC2 television series, also calledLast Chance to See,^[1] which concerned the very sameendangered species as in the original and how they have fared twenty years on. The series not only updated the situation with most of the endangered species featured in the original series but looked at some new ones, including theblue whale inBaja California,Mexico.

In spring 2010, he co-presentedThe Museum of Life^[2] (BBC2, 6 episodes), which explored the pioneering and often surprising research work and wildlife collections of theNatural History Museum, in London.

On BBC2 in October 2010 there was an additionalLast Chance to See special by Carwardine and Fry about the northern white rhino,Last Chance to See: Return of the Rhino, which followed the re-introduction of zoo-raised rhinos into the wild.

Also on BBC2 on 7 November 2010 Carwardine and Fry co-presentedStephen Fry and the Great American Oil Spill about the effects, four months after theBP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Carwardine has an extensive collection of wildlife, nature and environment photographs taken on all seven continents and in more than a hundred countries. He wrote two eBooks in 2020 (Wildlife Photography Masterclass: Digital Workflow andWildlife Photography Masterclass: Camera Settings). He was also Chairman of the judging panel for the prestigiousWildlife Photographer of the Year competition for seven years since 2005, run by theNatural History Museum andBBC Wildlife.

Carwardine was a founding director of the wildlife travel company Discover the World. He now runs his travel company, The Whale Watch Companywww.whalewatchcompany.com, specialising in whale-watching tours and wildlife photography trips.

In 2009, Carwardine and television presenterStephen Fry visited Codfish Island inNew Zealand as part of a series for theLast Chance to See, focusing on endangered species around the world.^[3] While they were filming akākāpō male calledSirocco, the bird hopped onto Carwardine's head and attempted to mate with him. The scene itself and Fry's commentary, "Sorry, but this is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. You are being shagged by a rare parrot", proved an instant television hit, being featured on news items around the world.^[4]

A video of the incident was uploaded toYouTube,^[5] where it received more than 700,000 views in the first week. As of August 2024 it has been viewed more than 27 million times.

Carwardine has written more than 50 books, including the following:

• RSPB How to Photograph Garden Birds (Bloomsbury 2023)ISBN 978-1-3994-0454-9
• Wildlife Photography Masterclass: Digital Workflow (eBook, self-published 2020)
• Handbook of Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises (Bloomsbury 2020)ISBN 978-1-4729-0814-8
• Mark Carwardine's Guide to Whale Watching in North America (Bloomsbury 2017)ISBN 978-1-4729-3069-9
• Mark Carwardine's Guide to Whale Watching in Britain and Europe second edition (Bloomsbury 2016)ISBN 978-1-4729-1015-8
• Mark Carwardine's Ultimate Wildlife Experiences, with foreword byStephen Fry (Wanderlust Publications, 2011)ISBN 978-0-9540926-6-5
• Last Chance to See, withDouglas Adams first published 1990 by William Heinemann (Arrow Books, 2009, 2nd edition, 2020 3rd edition)ISBN 978-0-09-953679-6
• Last Chance to See: In the footsteps of Douglas Adams, with foreword byStephen Fry (HarperCollins, 2009)ISBN 978-0-00-729072-7
• Natural History Museum Animal Records (Natural History Museum, 2007)ISBN 978-0-565-09223-8
• Collins Wild Guide: Whales & Dolphins (HarperCollins, 2006)ISBN 0-00-720547-3
• Extreme Nature, with Rosamund Kidman Cox (HarperCollins, 2005)ISBN 978-0-00-724648-9
• Shark (BBC Books, 2004)ISBN 0-563-48723-2
• Mark Carwardine's Guide to Whalewatching: Britain and Europe (New Holland Publishers, 2003)ISBN 1-84330-059-1
• The Shark Watcher's Handbook: A guide to sharks and where to see them, with Ken Watterson (BBC Books, 2002)ISBN 0-563-53794-9
• Killer Whales (BBC Books, 2001)ISBN 0-563-53407-9
• The Guinness Book of Animal Records (Guinness Publishing, 1995)ISBN 0-85112-658-8
• Eyewitness Handbooks: Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises (Dorling Kindersley, 1995)ISBN 0-7513-1030-1
• On the Trail of the Whale with foreword by Paul McCartney (Thunder Bay Publishing Co, 1994)ISBN 1-899074-00-7
• Last Chance to See, withDouglas Adams (Pan Books, 1991)ISBN 0-330-32002-5
• Birds in Focus (Salamander, 1990)ISBN 0-86101-544-4
• The Encyclopedia of World Wildlife with foreword by David Attenborough (Octopus Publishing, 1986)ISBN 0-7064-2437-9
• The Nature of Zimbabwe: A guide to conservation and development issues (IUCN,1988)ISBN 2-88032-933-7
• The Nature of Zambia: A guide to conservation and development issues (IUCN, 1988)ISBN 2-88032-403-3
• The Nature of Pakistan: A guide to conservation and development issues (IUCN,1986)ISBN 2-88032-404-1
• Iceland: Nature's Meeting Place, with foreword by the President of Iceland (Iceland Review, 1986)ISBN 0-948192-02-X

• Carwardine's official website
• Mark Carwardine on theEden website
• Radio 4 Nature "listen again" to episodes, circa 2003, presented by Carwardine, inRealAudio format.
• Radio 4 'Tough Lives' "listen again" to a series presented by Carwardine, in RealAudio format.
• Stephen Fry's blog 17 October 2008