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Lance Birk's adventures collecting Orchids in jungles from around the world are recounted in this AUDIO-BOOK, THE LAST ORCHID HUNTER. Personal accounts of his exploits on his numerous expeditions during the second half of the 20th Century are described in lucid details. And while Birk has enjoyed many original discoveries and botanical successes, and has encountered many people with varied interests, he has also experienced a wide range of hardships, personal losses, death and near-death occurrences. These experiences with people, and from many of his often solitary expeditions are fully described in this one-of-a-kind book. Unfortunately, since the ban on collecting, Orchid hunting is no longer allowed and new Orchid species hidden in the world's jungles will now remain unknown, keeping their secrets from mankind. Birk's newest book tells all about what it was like out there, in these numerous, never-told accounts, in those exotic and distant places where few men have gone before.

In real-life, he is a quiet, unassuming cut-flower grower (ex-restaurateur) who for years has been driven to search distant jungle habitats for rare and unusual species of wild Orchids and other plants, simply to learn about them and to dispel the myths and untruths about so many of those plants and habitats often perpetrated in literature. Lance Birk's exploits are legendary, even amongst the few other men who have attempted to follow his footsteps. Unimaginable hardships, jungle diseases, bandits, poisonous snakes and heavily-armed pirates and even death are all taken in stride in his relentless search to reveal the secrets of these mysterious beauties from the plant world.

AMAZING ADVENTURES OF A 20TH CENTURY ORCHID EXPLORER
	In the center of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico he discovered one of the largest Ancient Mayan Cities ever to have been found. On expedition to Indonesia he re-discovered Amorphophallus titanum, a plant which produces the world’s largest flower, and which had not been seen since its original discovery nearly a 100 years earlier.

He was shot at by the military in Guatemala, and then later the same day ambushed by bandits. Days earlier he saved his drowning friend’s life. He re-discovered a long-sought, lost species of Orchid in Brazil, then had it stolen from him by a jealous Orchid collector. Another greedy collector stole some of Birk's plants in the Philippines.

He trekked to the very top of the Peruvian Andes following a lead only to discover that the ‘new species’ wasn’t even an Orchid. He contracted deadly Cholera in Thailand, and he fell off a cliff in the Philippines, landing in a river. He fell off another cliff on an island in the Gulf of Siam and landed in a tree.

Following a lead he searched for, but failed to find, an elusive Orchid on Palawan Island in the Philippines, and nearly died from sickness. He recovered and on the day he left he serendipitously found the new species of Orchid concealed in bushes behind a native’s hut. He kicked a Krait in Thailand and discovered it was a new species of that deadly snake family. Two days later he was shot at by the Khmer Rouge near Cambodia.

After a rigorous expedition in Sumatra his friend and traveling companion succumbed and died in Birk's arms. He survived a crash-landing in Malaysia. He was later betrayed by a jealous rival who took his ideas and notes and then ‘discovered’ the rare species of Orchid that Birk had made plans to collect.

In the Gulf of Siam, while encamped on a tiny beach on a small island, he survived the full force of a Typhoon and a week later he escaped certain death when his boat outran a heavily-armed Pirate Ship. In the Straits of Malacca he avoided a similar experience by camouflaging his boat and hiding under an island cliff overhang.

These often harrowing stories seem more fitting for an action-adventure movie screen, yet they are all actual events that occurred in Birk's search for the real truth about Orchids. In over 25 years of his adventures, these and other stories are detailed in 39 separate chapters of his newest book, THE LAST ORCHID HUNTER.

"If I really thought about all that bad stuff I'd probably never leave home," Birk said, "But there are a lot of questions that still need answers and no one else seems willing to do it. I guess I've just been pretty lucky. Or sometimes, ......not!"