Lecture Synopses
JOHN HARE

John Hare managed to obtain permission to enter an area, which had been prohibited, to foreigners for over fifty years. John Hare, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Explorers’ Club of America has lectured to the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, the United Nations, the Great Britain-China Centre, the Grocers’ Livery Company and the Scientific Exploration Society. He has lectured in the USA to the National Geographic Society, The Smithsonian, the American Museum of Natural History, the Explorers’ Club, the China Institute, to Societies in Hong Kong, China and Kenya and to numerous schools and colleges. He has also lectured aboard the Queen Mary 2.  In 2004 John Hare was awarded the Ness Award by the Royal Geographical Society for raising awareness about wild Bactrian camels and the Lawrence of Arabia Memorial Medal for exploration under extreme hazard by the Royal Society of Asian Affairs. In October 2006 the Royal Scottish Geographical Society will award him the Mungo Park medal for distinguished contributions to exploration.

Lecture 1: The 1999 and 2005 wild Bactrian camel surveys in the Gobi desert of China illustrated with 60 colour slides - 50 minutes

The 1999 survey traversed some hitherto unexplored sand dunes near the northern Tibet escarpment that led John Hare into two undiscovered valleys and a fresh water spring that held pockets of wildlife that had no fear of man. In addition to observing 169 critically endangered wild Bactrian camels, the expedition also saw the Tibetan ass, Argali wild sheep, wolves and bears. The expedition had many adventures, including an encounter with wolves and a ‘black’ sand storm. The survey resulted in the establishment of the Lop Nur Wild Camel National Nature Reserve in the former Chinese nuclear test area to protect the wild Bactrian camel.
In November 2005, on a return visit, John Hare found that illegal miners had entered the area and in their search for gold, poisoned the spring and the vegetation with potassium cyanide and shot the wildlife. However, the Chinese government has responded by cleaning up the area and renewed its determination to combat illegal mining

Lecture 3: Around Lake Turkana in Kenya with camels 50 colour slide – 50 minutes

This expedition was completed in 2006 and it is thought to be the first time that camels have completely travelled around Lake Turkana. The barrier has, in the past, been the Omo River, which flows out of Ethiopia. This wide and fast flowing river was crossed by strapping the camels to the side of a boat and ferrying them across. There was a potentially disastrous meeting with bandits and a crossing of the little known and intimidating Lorian Plateau – all in temperatures that averaged 42 degrees Celsius. The expedition was undertaken to raise awareness for the wild Bactrian camel

Lecture 4:  Across the Sahara. Travels on a camel from Lake Chad to Tripoli 50 colour slides – 50 minutes.

In the winter months of 2001/2002, John Hare made a journey with camels from Lake Chad in Nigeria to Tripoli in Libya. It took three and a half months and covered 1462 miles. There were many adventures and discoveries en route. The journey was made along an ancient camel route and it was the first time in 100 years that the journey had been made in its entirety.