I hope the talks featured below – some are new – will be of interest to your students. I was the first foreigner to enter the Gobi Desert of Lop for over 45 years. The desert encompasses the former Chinese nuclear test area. I went to research the elusive wild double-humped camel of which there are less than 1000 in the world. Not only did our expeditions result in establishing a 125,000 square kilometre nature reserve, we also found hidden treasures including mummified bodies on a section of the Silk Road abandoned 1,600 years ago when the River Tarim changed course. In 2008 the wild camel was recognised as a New and Separate species.

My journeys in the Gobi are undertaken using domestic Bactrian camels. I have also crossed the Sahara with dromedary camels and circumambulated Lake Turkana in Kenya with camels (a first) and travelled seven times into the Chinese and Mongolia Gobi experiencing numerous adventures and hardship. National Geographic and the United Nations Environment Programme have sponsored three of my expeditions.

Lecture 1: Three wild camel surveys in the Gobi in China undertaken in 1999, 2005 and 2011. Dramatic encounters with illegal miners. 60 colour slides/PowerPoint – 50 minutes.

Lecture 2: The Mysteries of Lop Nur and its Silk Road. Features discovery of an ancient outpost and graveyard not previously found. 50 colour slides/PowerPoint – 50 minutes.

Lecture 3: Around Lake Turkana (Rudolph) in Kenya with camels. At one point held up by bandits. Swam camels across the Omo River. 50 colour slides/PowerPoint – 50 minutes.

Lecture 4: Across the Sahara. Travels on a camel 1450 miles during 100 days from Lake Chad (Nigeria) to Tripoli (Libya) during Gadaffi’s last days. 50 colour slides/PowerPoint – 50 minutes.

Lecture 5: Last Man In – scenes from a vanished Northern Nigeria illustrating my time as the last District Officer in remote Cameroons. Gives background to the emergence of Boko Haram. 50 Black and white photos/Powerpoint – 50 minutes.

For more details of each lecture please go to johnhare.org.uk and click on LECTURES. Also see www.wildcamels.com. Fee £250 plus travel expenses. I have spoken to over 100 schools and colleges.

Best wishes,

John Hare FRGS
Founder, Wild Camel Protection Foundation – Registered Charity Number 1068706

School Farm. Benenden, Kent TN17 4EU Telephone 01580 241132

Life Patron of the Wild Camel Protection Foundation: Dr Jane Goodall D.B.E.

Patrons: The Marchioness of Bute, The Countess of Chichester, Lady Grant, Professor Yuan Guoying, Peter Hall, Jane McMorland Hunter of Hafton, Gerald Kidd, Lulu Lytle, Colin McIntosh, Professor David Munro, The Dowager Duchess of Reading.