Ubud Monkey Forest Bali Indonesia
Friday, February 13, 2015
Walk with Cham in Ubud Monkey Forest
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| Ubud Monkey Forest |
Monkeeeeys!!! The highlight of our Ubud trip was visiting the Ubud Monkey Forest. Everyone was excited especially Mike who loves animals. I, on the other hand, was quite hesitant based on the articles I read prior this trip (I heard monkeys here can be very wild!-- eeeps!)
Ubud Monkey Forest is formally called Mandala Suci Wenera Wana or Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary which is located at the heart of Ubud. A forest and temple that has become a famous tourist spot in Bali because of the hundreds of monkeys that live there. About 600 monkeys roam around the tropical rain forest and are believed to be holy by the locals.
After paying the entrance fee worth Rp 30,000 (P105) Mike immediately bought one small bunch of bananas worth Rp 20,000 (P70). Yes! He was really excited to feed the monkeys like what we did in Nara Japan with the deer.
Ubud Monkey Forest is formally called Mandala Suci Wenera Wana or Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary which is located at the heart of Ubud. A forest and temple that has become a famous tourist spot in Bali because of the hundreds of monkeys that live there. About 600 monkeys roam around the tropical rain forest and are believed to be holy by the locals.
After paying the entrance fee worth Rp 30,000 (P105) Mike immediately bought one small bunch of bananas worth Rp 20,000 (P70). Yes! He was really excited to feed the monkeys like what we did in Nara Japan with the deer.
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| Entrance fee worth Rp 30,000 (P105) |
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| Bananas for sale |
The moment we entered, the monkeys saw Mike with the bananas so they hurriedly ran and swarmed Mike one even jumped on him and an alpha male monkey began bullying all the other monkeys around. It was chaos!!! Although Mike was just calm the whole time I was the complete opposite, frightened because based on the write ups monkeys here are known for being aggressive, they jump, steal and even bite. AFRAID!!! So seeing the incident with Mike and reading all those horror-monkey stories I was completely paranoid the whole time I was there.
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| The alpha male monkey |
But contrary to some of the write ups most of the monkeys here were harmless. They become aggressive for two things- 1. if they see you with food specially bananas and 2. if you agitate them. Like for instance when my brother was trying to get a closer shot of the monkeys using my camera the monkey got disturbed so he forcefully grabbed the camera strap, MY CAMERA STRAP! I was horrified but good thing my brother had a strong grip preventing it from the perils of getting snatched by this tiny-aggressive-creature.
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| My brother's shot of the irritated monkey |
But most of the time they were fun to watch.
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| What is this monkey doing? |
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| A monkey trying to open a nut |
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| Monkeying around |
I may say my family was braver than me.
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| Mama taking a shot of the 'monkeys' :) |
And despite my hesitations to get near these little animals, I also wanted to have a photo with them.
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| Trying to be close to them |
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| Getting nearer |
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| A good one! Shot by my brother |
Good thing I was able to gain courage to feed the tiniest monkey I saw. Yan lang ang kaya ng powers ko! And right after that another monkey came running after me as if asking for more bananas, waaah! I was scared as hell! Thanks to Mike who rescued and never left me. NO MORE MONKEY FEEDING for me please.
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| Hurah! A picture feeding the monkey :) |
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| Mike the brave |
Mike even let a monkey jumped on him while feeding the banana for a closer interaction. Oh he's really brave. <3
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| Mikey with the Monkey |
Ubud Monkey Forest was indeed an experience! But be very cautious with your belongings, make sure you close your bags. There were a number of incidents where monkeys snatched cellphones, shades, wallets and cameras and were most likely to be lost. But animal lovers will surely enjoy going here and despite my fear on these animals I enjoyed it quite well. :)
Details:
Opening Hours: 8:30 am- 6:00 pm | Daily
How to get there: rent a van for one whole day, try www.anggunbalitours.com
Entrance Fee: Rp 30,000 (P105)
Attire: no mandatory attire but be very careful with your belongings
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