Tiger Trail Offroad Adventure |
Marinasia is organizing a road rally through tiger country. The rally route will begin in Malaysiaand continue through southern Thailand and southern Myanmar (Burma). The route will continue onward to Bangladesh and India, terminating in Calcutta, India. Vehicles from all over the world are welcome though we especially encourage participation from the countries of the region. We plan to have20 to 30 vehicles participating in the first event which will be slated to take place in March of 2001. The Rally route will follow the coast line of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea as closely as possible. We will detour from the coastal route inorder to visit areas occupied by native Tigers. Rally organizers will travel with the participants. This years rally will be a scouting trip for a more competitive rally in the years ahead. One ormore Tiger specialists will also join the rally and assist the organizers in the identification of species. |
| | The Tiger Trail is a non-competitive rally around The Bay of Bengal. The rally is being held to increaseawareness of the plight of the tigers in the region and to promote their protection and preservation of their natural environment. |
The countries bordering the Bay of Bengal - Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), Bangladesh and India have some of the last territories(most are already National Parks) where the near extinct tiger population still survives. Development in the region and poaching for skins, bones and other body parts are now threatening the few remaining tigers with totalextinction. Roadconstruction in remote regions leads to more poaching, to deforestation, forest fires and to the native forests being replaced by plantations. This is one of the reasons we have chosen this route to promote awareness of the plightof the Tiger and with it the demise of the rainforest and all of its threatened inhabitants. |
| | In each of the countries visited the rally will visit a Tiger inhabited area, possibly a national park. We will consider various ways of contributing to the preservation of the Tiger and to the protection of Tiger habitat. The form of assistancewill depend upon the nature of facilities which are already in place and upon sponsorships and donations collected. The type of assistance may range from paying park warden salaries to settingup structures. It could also be through providing uniforms and/or contributing to tiger awareness programs for the local population. The rally will follow existing roads and tracks. Since this rally is non-competitive the winner will be selected by the committee. The designated winner will be the car and crew which have contributed most to the overall success of the rally. Consideration will begiven for contact with the local people, assistance to other participants and promotion of environmental awareness. |
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