WB couple on a 40k-km motorcycle tour for tiger protection reaches Maha

In an attempt to create awareness about wildlife conservation and tiger protection, a couple from West Bengal is on a nationwide 40000-kilometre motorcycle journey.

Nagpur:A couple who began a nationwide 40000-kilometre motorcycle journey from Kolkata to create awareness about wildlife conservation and tiger protection reached Maharashtra's Nagpur.

The journey has been pleasant ever since they started from West Bengal on February 15, said Ratindranath Das and his wife Gitanjali, adding that people too have been receptive except in a village of Madhya Pradesh where they were mistaken for child-lifters.

"We were going to Satpura Tiger Reserve in Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh. En route, we stopped near a tree to rest. A school boy told villagers about us and they mistook us as child-lifters.

Initially, they threatened us but we managed to convince them about our cause, they said.

"This journey is to create awareness about wildlife conservation and to ensure steps to protect tigers. We are touring forest reserves across the country and talking to all stakeholders, including forest dwellers of all ages. So far, we have been to reserves of 22 states and after Maharashtra, we plan to proceed to Goa and then further south," he told a news agency.

He said almost 80 per cent of the initiative is being financed by Facebook friends while the rest is being supported by the public.

Talking about their next venture, the couple said they would visit tour tiger reserves of 12 countries from March next year.