The Last Unicorn

The Last Unicorn by William Debuys is a memoir about his experience on a journey with the Saola Working Group, a team determined to find evidence of the only land mammal to be discovered by scientists in the last fifty years – a hooved, antelope-like creature called a saola. Though remains of the creature were found in 1992, no biologist has ever seen one alive. Debuys and his partner Bill Robichaud, among other team members, embark on a journey into the treacherous, undeveloped mountains of Laos, hoping to glimpse the saola. Debuys describes their journey in this work.

Debuys’s account of the journey through the Annamite Mountains, which span the border of Laos and Vietnam, does not result in the sighting of a saola. This is clear to readers from the beginning, which would, in most instances, make for a lackluster book. Debuys, however, writes about nature, beauty, conservation, and the animals and people of this region. It is clear that his journey in search of the saola, though unsuccessful, was nevertheless a moving experience in the natural world. Robichaud, who was the tour guide of the expedition, invited Debuys to join the group after he flew from America to Laos in 2009 to sit in on a meeting about the saola. Two years later, after much research, Robichaud and Debuys found themselves in the Nakai-Nam Theun National Protected Area, the region in Laos where evidence of the saola was found.

The men spent two months on their expedition, trekking through the mountains with local guides to evaluate the habitat of the saola, making notes about evidence of poaching and other concerns that might further endanger the creature. Though to outsiders it didn't seem like finding the saola was the goal, both Debuys and Robichaud hoped they would catch sight of the elusive creature.



Debuys describes the experience of trekking through the hills, including his devastation as he saw dozens of animals caught in snares and kill traps, their bodies left behind and never recovered. The only evidence that the saola existed before a photo was captured of the creature via a motion camera deep in the forest in 2013, was a pair of antlers in a hunting cabin in Laos, which a researcher found in 1992. The saola, a large, grazing creature with two long antlers and a spotted, reddish-brown coat, is referred to by many as the Laotian “unicorn” because it is so rare.

Ultimately, the team stayed in a deep canyon in the middle of the wilderness, staking their tents in a central location that would allow them to journey out for short trips into the wilderness without the burden of their large packs and supplies. Debuys became intimately familiar with many of the more common animals that lived nearby their campsite, writing on their behaviors, habitats, and other characteristics, painting a portrait of the unique ecosystem of Nakai-Nam Theun. Debuys also writes about the funny behavior of the team's guides, whom they catch sneaking food in the middle of the night in order to deplete their rations more quickly, allowing the guides to return to their girlfriends back home.

Reflecting on poaching and the illegal harvesting of plants and other products in the forest, Debuys's memoir is as much about the saola as it is about the animals that share its habitat. The book includes a number of photos of the location, bringing readers into this remote locale. Reflecting on the physical and emotional labor he underwent to discover this isolated part of the world, the book is reflective of Debuys's deep appreciation for natural beauty and for the preservation of animal and plant life in all parts of the globe.



William Debuys has written nine books, ranging from memoir to environmental history and studies of place. Born in Maryland, he studied in North Carolina. His first experiences in nature were under the wing of writer Robert Coles, who introduced Debuys to the American Southwest, with which he fell madly in love. He has written shorter pieces for Orion, The New York Times Book Review, Rangelands, and other magazines. Some of his works include A Great Aridness: Climate Change and the Future of the American Southwest and Salt Dreams: Land and Water in Low-Down California. He is an active environmentalist and currently lives on a farm between Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he has worked the land since 1976.