Where the Bengal Tiger’s natural habitat is much closer

Most of our morning was spent in Trivandrum. We headed out shortly after breakfast to the entertainment center of the city where we visited the zoo and museums. As Philip stood in line to get our tickets, I was swarmed with young children and a few adults interested in finding out where I am from and looking for someone to help them practice their sketchy English. One young girl translated for her friend and grandmother and we talked about why I was there, where I came from and why Philip didn’t marry an Indian. The zoo was familiar as it had many of the same animals you see at the Woodland Park Zoo. I expected so see a few more native animals. I did see many cobras in the reptile exhibit. It was interesting to read about them and their habitat, etc. We had heard that Philip’s uncle had a couple in his yard at the farm. We also saw a rather feisty Bengal Tiger. He was caged away from the other tigers and was expressing his unhappiness with loud ‘roars’ and sliding quickly around his wet cage. We finished at the zoo, and took my first auto-rickshaw ride back to the hotel for lunch at the coffee shop. Then we headed to meet the rest of the family to catch our one hour plane ride back to Chennai.