Should I really be holding a lion cub? Two female students in my Arabic study abroad group were already cooing and petting the irresistibly cute, furry fluff-balls. We were at the Cairo Zoo, where I was discovering that for a little baksheesh, visitors could get a lot closer to the animals than back home in the United States.
“Baksheesh” technically means “tip” in Arabic (as well as several other languages), but it’s really a stand-in word for all manner of passing extra money, frequently under the table. Call it a fee, a commission, a kickback, whatever. Feed the giraffes? A little baksheesh. Pet a zebra? No problem. Step into the big cats enclosure and hold a lion cub or two? Just a little more baksheesh.
This concept of paying off-the-books money for otherwise off-limits activities or experiences is rare in the United States. And as a naive college student in Egypt, my first foreign country experience, I soon got annoyed at outstretched hands asking for “baksheesh.” But, thanks to the Cairo Zoo, I also realized that, in the right circumstances, a little baksheesh can open the door to unique travel opportunities.
For instance, instead of holding lion cubs, how about exclusive early access to Angkor Wat? I got to the Cambodian mega-tourist site before sunrise along with probably a thousand other eager tourists looking to get iconic sunrise shots of the temple reflected in its foreground pools. Behind the closed gates, surrounded by the jostling tourists and their rickshaws waiting for the sunrise, I wandered around to the back for a different perspective.
