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 7 & 8
DARJEELING, WEST BENGAL, INDIA
The Roar Crew has arrived in Darjeeling, the stunning ‘Queen of the Himalayas’ and arguably the tea capital of the world, on their epic adventure from Kerala to Cannes.
Our intrepid duo – Paul George V and Wild Tiger Founder Gautom Menon – are now more than a week into their journey spreading awareness of tiger conservation and they have spent the last few days roaring their way through West Bengal.
Day 7 saw Gautom and Paul continuing to find out first hand about the scale and beauty of West Bengal as they had a further solid day of driving through the state.
“It’s interesting to see how varied the culture and cuisines are, as we traversed from Calcutta to Siliguri and then to Darjeeling,” Gautom tells The Moodie Davitt Roarport. “Though the local language is Bengali, the most-spoken language in Darjeeling is Nepali. Even the facial features of the people of this state are so diverse. We’ve been reminded again that we live in perhaps the most diverse nation on the planet.”
The duo might be more famous for their love of rum, but unsurprisingly they were greeted in Darjeeling by a special cup of tea at the hotel. They then feasted on Darjeeling’s other delicacy, momos, a type of dumpling hugely popular in the Himalayan region.
As Gautom and Paul continued through the narrow roads of Darjeeling, their Tr-iger (the noble Tata Hexa stead carrying the duo to Cannes) was a bit too much of a big cat for the roads of the area, which are unsuitable for SUVs. “The cat-like reflexes of the Roar Crew were certainly well-tested,” Gautom says.
The drive did, however, give Gautom and Paul the chance to visit the famous Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and climbs through the mountains to an altitude of 2,200 metres.
Even this great railway, however, could not carry the team all the way to Cannes and the Roar Crew were very much focused on the challenging road conditions. It is safe to say that, after a hard day of hilly driving, the dynamic duo had earned their stripes and the Wild Tiger they enjoyed as a nightcap.
Next the intrepid Wild Tiger duo will make their way out of West Bengal and head for Guwahati, the largest city in the state of Assam – an area also renowned for its tea. It’s a 14-hour drive and a gruelling yet picturesque one. One week in, and our two human tigers are really roaring.
#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’ Days 5 & 6: Wild Tigers become Bengal Tigers
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’ Days 4 & 5: The team earn their stripes but not a tiger in sight
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.
