John Hare

John Neville Hare (11 December 1934 – 28 January 2022) was a British explorer, author, and conservationist, known for campaigning for the preservation of the Wild Bactrian camel. Life and career Hare was born in Bexhill, Kent on 11 December 1934. His interest in wildlife conservation began when he served in the north of colonial Nigeria, first as an army officer assigned to the Royal West African Frontier Force and later in the Colonial Service. In 1993, John Hare was offered by a Russian exploration team to research the status of the wild Bactrian camel in Mongolia, a critically endangered species of camel. It only survives in the Gobi Desert. In 1994, he presented his findings at an international conference in Ulan-Bator. in 1995 he received permission to enter Lop Nur, the first foreigner to get such permission in 45 years. Lop Nur was also the natural habitat of the wild Bactrian camel and also a former nuclear testing site. The wild Bactrian camels are also able to tolerate salt water with a higher salt content than sea water, explaining their residence in Lop Nur. He undertook expeditions in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1999 to Lop Nur. In 1995, he became the first foreigner in recorded history to cross the Gashun Gobi Desert from north to south. In 1997, John Hare with Kathryn Rae founded the Wild Camel Protection Foundation, a UK registered charity. The foundation proposed the establishment of the Lop Nur Wild Camel National Nature Reserve in Xinjiang Province in the former nuclear test site, to which the Chinese government later agreed. The WCPF became responsible for helping the Chinese to establish one of the largest nature reserves in the world, protecting not only the wild Bactrian camel but many other IUCN Red Book listed endangered fauna and flora. John Hare was the sole international consultant for the Reserve.