In India, the iconic Bajaj auto rickshaws or tuk-tuks costaround Rs200,000 or £2,000.  Twenty auto rickshaws were sold for up to £100,000 each in brightly coloured designs at a wildlife charity auction hosted in Lancaster House by Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall.

One stylish bronze coloured rickshaw sported the British and Indian flags (left, carrying Prince Charles and Camilla). Designed by The Paintbox, custom car specialists, it went for £40,000. 

The auction auto-rickshaws, built to the same engineering specifications as those in India with 198cc petrol engines, have been roaming the streets of London for the past month with a top speed of 35mph. They were launched by actress Goldie Hawn. The campaign will be continued till November when 40 more ordinary auto-rickshaws will race 500kms across the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh to Kipling Camp on the edge of Kanha National Park. The participants will come from the UK and elsewhere and each rickshaw team has pledged to raise £10,000 for the cause.

A memorandum of understanding was signed by five non-governmental organisations to achieve what Prince Charles described as “an enormously important cause, particularly because of its human-animal dimension”. Since it was set up by Mark Shand in 2002, the Elephant Family charity has raised over £9m, often through art related events.

Elephant Family, now headed as joint presidents by Prince Charles and Camilla, aims to create 100 elephant corridors within the next ten years, starting with a major one in the north-eastern state of Assam.