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, East Sussex, 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. His published works include The Lost Camels of Tartary (1998), Shadows Across the Sahara (2003), Mysteries of the Gobi (2009), Last Man In (2013), and 38 other titles.

His first published works told the adventures of a young northern Nigerian boy called Sauna and the Sauna stories spread throughout Africa and were in high demand as readers in Southern and East African schools. He later wrote on more contentious themes in particular, The Price of Liberty, which told the story of a pesticide, banned in the US, being dumped on Africa. Other themes included a campaign against milk powder, The Fight for Life, and drugs, Sauna and the Drug Pedlars. His books have been published by many of the UK's leading publishers including Macmillan, Hodder and Stoughton, Longman and Nelson and also in Nigeria by Bounty Press and Safari. The Sauna series featured in a northern Nigeria television series.

Awards 1998: An Environmental Award from the State Environment Protection Agency of China for great contribution to saving the critically endangered wild camel from extinction. 2004: The Ness Award of the Royal Geographical Society for raising public awareness and conservation of endangered wild camels in Mongolia and China. In the same year. the Royal Society of Asian Affairs awarded him the Lawrence of Arabia Memorial Medal for exploration under extreme hazard. 2006: Awarded the Mungo Park Medal by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society for distinguished contributions to exploration. 2009: Appointed the sole International Consultant to the Lop Nur Wild Camel National Nature Reserve. 2010: Awarded the Lowell Thomas Award by the Explorers Club of America for his dedication to protecting the critically endangered wild camel. 2014: Awarded the Mongolian Environmental Protection Medal for outstanding contributions to wild camel protection from the Mongolian Ministry of Nature and the Environment. 2016: Awarded the Mongolian Government's Friendship Medal – their highest award given to foreigners. 2017: Awarded the OBE in HM the Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to the conservation of the wild camel in Mongolia and China.