Into the Sacred Monkey Forest
The Sacred Monkey Forest of Ubud Village
The Sacred Monkey Forest of Padangtegal sits on the lower end of Ubud Village, down a road lined with many different statues of monkeys. It is, as the name suggests, filled with monkeys.
The monkeys in question are crab-eating macaques (also known as long-tailed macaques), and of the many things you need to know about them (besides being carriers of Hepatitis B), the most important is they want your stuff. One grabbed one of our children's colorful camera case and played a serious game of tug-or-war before letting go.
You don't need to enter the Monkey Forest to see these monkeys, though. There are always a few lounging about on the walls or the road that runs alongside the Monkey Forest (named, appropriately, Monkey Forest Road).
Monkeys Run This Forest
The forest has three different temples in it, so the place is sacred. Dogs aren't allowed inside, and the monkeys run wild. After paying the entrance fee (30,000 rupiah for adults, 20,000 for kids at the time of our visit; it's more than that now) and setting foot inside, a visitor is immediately accosted by a horde of the 600-something monkeys that live in the forest.
The official name of a group of monkeys is a troop, but I can best describe this particular community of moneys as a horde. Trust me, when they're all coming at you, rushing out the trees and bounding down the paved walkway all you think is "Holy crap! A horde of monkeys!"
You can buy a large bunch of bananas for 50,000 rupiah or a small bunch for 20,000 rupiah to feed the monkeys (again, prices at the time of our visit). Once you have the bananas in your hands, though, look out, because they're greedy little primates and they'll be coming right for you.
You aren’t supposed to touch the monkeys, but they’re all about touching you — they run right up you if you’re holding food or even they think you’re holding food.
A Dark Turn in the Monkey Forest
If you have food and don't give it to them, it's not uncommon for them to bite you. This can be dangerous, because the long-tailed macaques are can carry a number of diseases. Many people fear getting rabies from a monkey bite, but this is rare. More critical is the transmission of B Virus, which can infect humans and for which there is no vaccine.
We watched one monkey run up a man who had his young son strapped to his back. The monkey sat on the man's neck for an uncomfortable moment or two, then hissed at the small child and tried to bite the kid. The kid screamed. The dad swore (at least it sounded like swearing in German) and threw the monkey on the ground. It was pretty scary.
Wonderful little creatures, these monkeys.
So they can be kind of creepy, but they can be pretty funny, too, like this guy that ran around with an empty water bottle in his mouth..
Or this guy that's clearly had a few too many bananas.
We couldn't wait to get away from these unpredictable little primates, and we were happy to have escaped from the Sacred Monkey Forest without any monkey bites or scratches.
Read more about our Sacred Monkey Forest adventure in Mean Monkey Monday #13 for Boing Boing.
We visited the Sacred monkey Forest on November 4, 2014, our 76th day of continuous travel.
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Header Image: Description. Image from the author's collection.