When British wit Stephen Fry came to Kiwiland to visit a rare parrot, his crew had a very close encounter. Fry was here in January filming the follow-up to the 1990 book and radio series Last Chance To See, featuring endangered animal species around the world. The extremely rare native Kakapo – there are less than 100 of the big green flightless parrots left – was top on the list of species for Fry to check out. There were once only around 20 Kakapo left, but breeding programmes in island wildlife sanctuaries have lead to steadily increasing numbers. Sure enough, Fry found a lovely big male Kakapo, who gave zoologist Mark Carwardine a warm welcome. See the crew's close Kakapo encounter on the video below. Matt Akersten - 4th October 2009