Sacred Monkey Forest
Monday, November 30th, 2009I am writing this blog in a small roadside cafe in a town called Ubud in Bali. We are on our way out of this beautiful little hippie retreat, filled with artists, musicians, designers and the inevitable tourists after a day and a bit of exploring and resisting the great food and shopping it has to offer.
Once again I have just dipped into an experience below and have a few photos to illustrate it. For a more detailed account of our travels visit the blog on www.emillyallan.co.za
“Now..Im the King of the Jungle, the Jungle VIP…”
8am beeped on my cheap ‘travel watch” as we wandered down Monkey Forest road towards the overgrown, jungle entrance to the Sacred Monkey Forest. I did a little internal high five, when we passed the empty booth at the entrance - the ticket collector had not yet climbed out of bed yet, and that meant we had an extra 30 000 rupees to spend on important things like coffee later on in the day.
The first sight that greeted us was a very wise and beautifully groomed whiskered, grey monkey, who was carefully licking a stone wall. With the intensity of professor involved in a complicated experiment, he licked in long strokes which overlapped slightly, and left streaks of saliva in a perfect line along the wall. It is important not to judge too quickly the different customs when visiting foreign places, but I had to wonder how this monkey had managed to procure Acid or a similar hallucinogen in the tiny town of Ubud.
At first we tip toed closer to each new troupe of primates, whispering and making no sudden movements. 10 minutes later we were trying not to trip over them as they bowled about the ancient forest totally unconcerned by tourists. They climbed up monkey ropes that decended 30 metres from the tangled forest trees above, raced along moss covered temple walls, over sunlit graves and between grotesque statues. We were walking through the real version of the monkey city from “The Jungle Book”.
Being spoiled in Africa, we tend to put our nose up at viewing monkeys, and past experiences with Baboons in Botswana laying siege to our campsite, have left me less than fond of primates in general. Having said that, we found ourselves totally engrossed in that fairytale forest. At one stage I was shooting a particularly nonchalant young female when I was pounced upon by a cheeky individual, who displayed a particular fascination with the workings of the Nikon D700.
Check out the pics below….
