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 our special line extension, The Moodie Davitt Roarport. Via phone and social media, we’ll be with Gautom Menon and Paul George Vedanayagam 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. More news on that coming soon. 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. |
CHINA. From mountains to the barren desert, Wild Tiger co-pilots Gautom Menon and Paul George Vedanayagam are continuing their journey across China with the realisation that the country is one of huge contrasts. And that long stints behind the TRiger wheel are needed.
Gautom and Paul are a month into their journey towards Cannes and they are showing no signs of fatigue. In fact, Gautom said he felt like they had only begun their trip “just the other day”.
Their journey towards Hami in the Xinjiang province added an extra 600km to the trusty Tata Hexa’s odometer. Hami, according to avantour.com, was regarded as a gateway from China to the West; its history closely linked with that of the Great Silk Road. That network of caravan routes, which connected the East and West, greatly influenced the development of trade and cultural ties between people and countries along the way.
The long drive saw our intrepid explorers leaving behind the snow-capped Qilian mountains, in the Qinghai region, to head into the barren Gobi desert. Within one hour the temperature jumped from 11 to 31 degrees Celsius.
The Gobi desert is a vast, arid region in northern China and southern Mongolia. It’s known for its dunes, mountains and rare animals such as snow leopards and Bactrian camels. The Wild Tiger co-pilots didn’t mention seeing any; their trusty TRiger must have just purred on past them!
Gautom said the journey from Xining to Jiayuguan was “as pretty as anything”. The city was regarded as another important stop along the ancient Silk Road and the Wild Tiger co-pilots were quick to head for its nearby Overhanging Great Wall.
Chinahighlights.com points out that the Hanging Wall, which is part of the magnificent Great Wall of China, was built to a gradient of 45 degrees. It was completed during the Ming Dynasty to defend the Black Mountain Valley.
En route the Wild Tiger duo have attracted a lot of interest from well-wishers and, of course, from others who have no idea of what they are doing. Gautom said this has prompted some rather curious questions so, ever quick off the mark, he has come up with a Roar Trip By Wild Tiger Rum FAQ sheet.
- Why is the car called “TRiger”?
- Why have you chosen Cannes as your final destination?
- How many kilometres and hours are covered on average each day?
- Why are you (Gautom & Paul – drivers) called T-1 and T-2?
- What’s the best place or experience so far on the Roar Trip?
- What’s the most memorable food and drink you’ve had so far?
- Do the back and bum hurt from all those hours of driving?
- What have been some of the biggest challenges of the journey so far?
- How is the performance of the TRiger car? (Tata Hexa)
- How much money has been raised from donations so far? And where can one donate?
P.S. Gautom is obviously not too jaded from the hours behind the TRiger wheel and said he is more than happy to answer any further questions, so feel free to contact him.
#RoarTrip, #Roarforourtigers, #KeralatoCannes, #WildTigerFoundation #TigerConservation
HOW TO SUPPORT THE WILD TIGER ROARTRIP
Via the official website – www.roartrip.in
Or:
Account Name: Roar Trip WTF
Account No: 6766903189
Bank Name: Indian Bank
Branch: Sivananda Colony Branch, Coimbatore – 641 012,
Tamil Nadu, India
IFS Code : IDIB000S075 /SWIFT: IDIBINBBCBE
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
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EARLIER ON THE WILD TIGER ROARTRIP…
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’: Landslides, Hotpot and Terracotta Warriors
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’: New frontiers for The Roar Crew
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’: A tiger gets loose in Laos
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’ Days 13-15: Turning on the (King) Power in Bangkok
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’ Day 12: Crossing the Indo-Myanmar Friendship Bridge
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’ Days 9-11: “For their tomorrow, we gave our today”
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’ Days 7 & 8: The Tigers Who Came to Tea
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
#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.
