Most tourists visiting Ubud end up at Monkey Forest, located at the southern end of Jl. Monkey Forest, in downtown Ubud.
Ika, Jevon and I were staying at Rahayu Bungalows on Jl. Hanoman, so getting to Monkey Forest took about 3 minutes my motorbike. Riding up to the entrance of Monkey Forest, one sees two large cement monkeys, attached to large boulders, either side of the road. There is a shady parking area and a ticket office. Price of admission, 10,000rp for adults, 5,000rp for kids. I gave the 25,000rp and the staff GAVE BACK the 5,000rp for Jevon!!!
The macaque monkeys who live in this forest are probably the most nakal (naughty) in all of Bali. Well fed, unthreatened and very used to humans, these cheeky monkeys will grab anything that isn’t nailed down, including your hat, glasses, wallet, bag, camera, water bottle.
Monkey Forest is itself quite pleasant, with tall shady trees, forest and the lovely Pura Padangtegal Agung, at the rear. Ika is scared of any animal with fur, including rabbits and monkeys. This stems from when she was a girl, and a rat dropped from a ceiling joist, down her shirt!
Jevon did not know what to make of the monkeys and most of the time was carried by Ika. We stood and watched their Balinese keeper, sit and feed them bananas, the aggressive larger monkeys grabbing the bananas, the weaker ones looking on jealously.
The whole time we were there no monkeys approached us. For some people though it can be intimidating. Monkeys are finely attuned to human behaviour. They can read body language like a Kuta street vendor. In a weird way I think having the kid along, kept them at bay. I have seen many times in the past, tourists getting handbags and sunglasses snatched. They sense fear, as most animals can and will surround a frightened person quicker than a group. Even so, visiting Monkey Forest is safe and enjoyable.
{ 3 comments }
Hi Nick! My mom and I visited that monkey forest in 2002. My mom is in her 70’s and really not afraid of anything. So she was surprised when one monkey came down from the trees and took a chomp into her calf, enough to puncture her skin and draw blood. I think her “mistake” was that she was eating a banana bought from one of the vendors. I posted some pix here: http://www.tinyurl.com/hvvdv
Wave your sunglasses around–the monkeys will think you are two people!
Thanks Chris,
I know what you mean, they like to snatch bananas from each other and the keeper too. By the way a friend of mine just came back fom China, up in the mountains, with some great photos. I’ll get some online sometime.
Rich, yeah one time I saw a monkey take a guy’s glasses, try them on, then brek them in half.
Comments on this entry are closed.