* In the tradition of Tim Severin's bestselling tales of intrepid exploration.
* Adventure travel book by explorer in search of the unseen camels of Tartary in forbidden China.John Hare has made three expeditions to the Mongolian and Chinese Gobi deserts, the first in 1993 with Russian scientists and the second and third with Chinese scientists in 1995 and 1996. The book records the amazing adventures he has experienced on those expeditions and will record details of the 30-day walk on foot in the formidable Kum Tagh sand dunes in the spring of 1997. He is the first recorded foreigner to have crossed the Gashun Gobi from north to south.
The expeditions were primarily concerned with tracking down the mysterious wild Bactrian camel 'camelus bactrianus ferus' which lives in the heartland of the desert and is the ancestor of all domestic Bactrian stock. There are under a thousand left in the world and the wild Bactrian camel is more endangered than the giant Panda.
This is John Hare's magnificent account of a formidable feat of modern exploration.
a terrific tale - LITERARY REVIEW
an admirable book - INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
destined to become a modern adventure classic - FOCUS
John Hare is a modern version of the adventurers of old... How wonderful that, in this materialistic world, people like John exist to champion that endangered, fast-vanishng wild Bactrian camel. - Jane Goodall