The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’ Days 4 & 5: The team earn their stripes but not a tiger in sight

The Moodie Davitt Roarport

The Moodie Davitt Report is providing exclusive daily coverage of Wild Tiger’s Roar Trip, one of travel retail’s boldest CSR initiatives.

Via phone and social media, we’ll be with Gautom Menon and Paul George V on every stretch of their epic 65-day road trip from Kerala to Cannes and be there to greet them on the French Riviera when they arrive on the eve of the TFWA World Exhibition. We are unlikely to be alone.

Duty free retailers: If you’d like to meet Gautom and Paul along the way (see their destination course below) let us know at Martin@MoodieDavittReport.com

DAYS 4 & 5 

MADHYA PRADESH AND MAHARASHTRA, INDIA.

There are 39 tiger reserves in India but arguably the most famous is Pench Tiger Reserve in Seoni, a vast nature reserve that straddles the central Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Besides being one of the world’s most renowned tiger habitats, it is also among India’s most important bird sanctuaries. The Pench Tiger Reserve and the surrounding area were the original setting for Rudyard Kipling’s famous work, The Jungle Book. Not surprisingly then, given that tiger conservation is the prime motivation for the Wild Tiger Roar Trip, Pench was a compulsory stop for the Roar Trip co-pilots Gautom Menon and Paul George V.

Day 4 saw our intrepid duo make the ten-hour, 600km drive from Hyderabad to the tiger reserve. But first there was an important stop in the city of Nagpur, two hours to the south of Pench. There Gautom and Paul caught up with one of India’s most famous wildlife conservationists, Nitin Desai (pictured below).

Desai is Director, Central India with the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI). Having worked as a volunteer with the World Wildlife Fund in 1987, he became increasingly concerned by the impact of poaching and the illegal wildlife trade.

At great personal risk, Desai has led the campaign against this appalling and widespread criminal activity. Building awareness of the problem is as important as catching the perpetrators and he holds regular wildlife enforcement training workshops for forest and police personnel. “He is a symbol of hope for the wildlife of India in a sea of despair,” noted Sanctuary Asia.

“It was his talk during a field trip in 2010 at Kanha Tiger Reserve that inspired me to set up the Wild Tiger Foundation and he has been an instrumental figure in enhancing my interest in tigers,” Gautom told The Moodie Davitt Roarport today. “WPSI is the conservation partner of the Wild Tiger Roar Trip and also guides the Wild Tiger Foundation with scientific research and knowledge.

“We are delighted to also learn that Pench National Park was recently named the nation’s best-run national park. Also, Madhya Pradesh has replaced Karnataka as the state with the highest density of tigers in the world, so for us it was a thrill to be able to pass this way during the Roar Trip.”

Tiger 1 (Gautom, left) and Tiger 2 (Paul George V, right) go out on safari to try to find the four-legged variety
TRiger (or the Wild Tiger-mobile, a Tata Hexa) and a Taj Safaris vehicle at the entrance to the Baghvan Lodge

Gautom and Paul’s host at Pench Tiger Reserve was Indian travel company Taj Safaris – the official Safari Partner of the Roar Trip.

The Taj Safaris Baghvan Lodge staff went out of their way to create a memRoarble experience for the Wild Tiger team
Table for one? Wild Tiger Gautom waits, somewhat hopefully, for a tigress to join him
A bonnet breakfast in the jungle for Paul & Gautom, courtesy of Taj Safaris
Eau natural: Outdoor showers at the Taj Safaris property in Pench
A traditional non-vegetarian Thali meal by Chef Kanhaiya of Taj Safaris-run Baghvan Lodge

Alas, at Pench Tiger Reserve, no tigers – other than the Wild Tiger-mobile – were spotted by their rum-tastic human counterparts. But it was an important visit anyway, Gautom says, one that reminded him of the severity and urgency of the tiger conservation cause.

“It’s surreal to think that in just four days we are in Central India having departed from down south,” he comments. “More interestingly, we are yet to be stopped by cops or the highway patrol, who normally would question such branding carried out on a vehicle!

“We now make our way to Calcutta where our TRiger (Tata Hexa, pictured below) requires some tender loving care,” says Gautom. “Tiger 1 (me) and Tiger 2 (Paul) have been a little short on sleep during week one but not short on spirit.” Especially not of the rum kind.

Putting a tiger in your tank Gautom? No, diesel actually.
The Moodie Davitt Report, or Roarport in this case, is with Gautom every inch of the way
What does a Wild Tiger co-pilot do when he gets tired? Take a big catnap of course.

#RoarTrip, #Roarforourtigers, #KeralatoCannes, #WildTigerFoundation #TigerConservation

HOW TO SUPPORT THE WILD TIGER ROARTRIP

Via the official website  www.roartrip.in

The donation page link is on the website, but anyone can donate directly at www.roartrip.in/donation or https://letzchange.org/projects/roar-trip-2019-an-awareness-drive-for-tiger-conservation

Please encourage your colleagues, friends and family to consider doing so.

En route to Cannes, the daring duo will be meeting up with other travel retailers. Those wishing to ‘meet and greet’ them are encouraged to make contact. Yes, Gautom will be checking his email: gautom@wildtiger.in

EARLIER ON THE WILD TIGER ROARTRIP…

The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’ Day 3: High times in Hyderabad
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’ Day 2: Wild Tiger roars into Dufry Bengaluru
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’ Day 1: 65-day tiger conservation brand odyssey waved off in ‘spec-cat-ular’ style

#RoarTrip, #Roarforourtigers, #KeralatoCannes, #WildTigerFoundation #TigerConservation

ABOUT WILD TIGER RUM: Kerala-based Wild Tiger is India’s first rum to be produced from a blend of molasses and cane spirit. The rum’s velvet tiger print stripe packaging reflects the fact that no two tigers share the same stripe pattern – so the stripe design of the sleeve has been designed and cut to ensure that no two bottles are alike.Wild Tiger made its Indian travel retail debut in February 2016 and is now available in 53 countries.

ABOUT WILD TIGER FOUNDATION (WTF): Wild Tiger Foundation is a CSR initiative by Wild Tiger Rum, which contributes 10% of its profits to the cause. It is a registered non-profit organisation headquartered in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India that focuses on the conservation of the tiger and its habitat by raising funds and creating awareness. It was founded in 2015 by drinks entrepreneur Gautom Menon and Coimbatore-based businessman Suprej Venkat.

The primary focus is the conservation of tigers and their habitats within the state of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, specifically Parambikulam Tiger Reserve in Kerala and Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu. Wild Tiger Foundation acts as an influencer and an enabler.India had around 100,000 tigers in the mid-19th century. Today it has around 2,200, underlining the urgency of the conservation cause.

Food & Beverage The Magazine eZine