It was late at night when we wound our way into the mountains. We informed our hotel that we would be arriving late, but were told it would not be a problem. But when we arrived at the preserve gate at 10:02, we were told that we could not enter the park. It seems the preserve closes its gates at 10pm to allow the tigers, elephants, and other animals to run free at night without fear of getting hit by cars (an understandable concern in India).
Still, we were two minutes late… Rev. David pleaded. Jothi argued. But our fate was sealed the moment we arrived at the gate and they saw me in the front seat. They requested a
What the guard at the Thekkady gate may have looked like.
It was pretty clear that we weren’t staying in the preserve. We turned around and search Kumily, the city that boarders Thekkady on the north. The first hotel we found turned us away, but at the second we struck gold. Or, we struck a metal that has a somewhat metallic luster and might be worth something. Maybe. After a long day of driving we stumbled up the stairs into hard beds at almost midnight. Some rooms lack toilet paper, some rooms lacked locks. The doorways were cut low and we had some concerns about our options in the event of a fire, but we didn’t complain. We had a place to sleep!
Apparently we saved some money too! Rev. David tells us we paid only about 1/3 of the amount we would have paid at the in-park hotel.
Not to mention the savings found in not having to pay a bribe.