Guide insists the waterfall entrance is a fixed government tourist price — trust him or check the booth?
Hired a day driver near Ella. At the waterfall approach he said foreigners pay a set government tourist price and collected cash before we reached the counter. Booth looked open further up. I am not asking for a fee chart — just whether travelers verify at the official booth themselves or hand money to the guide mid-path.
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4 Answers from travellers
Pay at the official booth or ticket window yourself whenever you can see one. Guides sometimes collect early and call it a government tourist price; sometimes they are skimming or bundling their own tip. Politely say you will pay at the counter and keep walking. If the site truly uses a foreigner ticket, the booth will say so — you do not need a mid-path cash relay. I will not quote invented fee numbers. Receipts beat folklore.
Smiled, said we pay at the booth, and did. Guide still waited. Price was whatever the counter printed — no mid-path drama.
Holding the cash until the window. If he gets annoyed, that is information too.
Same pattern on boat pitches — verify the real counter or skipper price yourself.
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