We had visited Monkey
Forest the first time we came to Bali, but it was very short lived, as Matt was
still very sick with Bali Belly. So we decided to embark on the sacred grounds
again and explore all the forest had to offer.
Entrance to the Monkey
Forest for adults it is 50,000RP ($5aud) and children it is 40,000RP ($4).
Before we go on, we want
to make note with all the terrorism scares and everything else in Indonesia the
monkey forest is the only place we really felt unsafe haha. And by unsafe it wasn't very unsafe as there were staff constantly walking around making sure the monkey's were well fed and on their best behaviours.
You literally walk
through a forest and watch as all the trees rattle and leaves fall to the
ground as the monkeys play in the trees above.
We were literally
walking along the path and monkey’s would come up and climb on you curiously.
Or you could just sit down at a distance watching the monkey’s (making sure not
to look the monkey’s in the eyes as they see this as a threat). There are
hundreds of monkeys from very old to brand new littering the forest.
One of the keepers in
the cemetery part of the monkey forest sat Madi down on the step and let a
monkey climb up onto her shoulder to take a banana leaf.
It is such a peaceful
place, considering there were also hundreds of tourists in the forest trying to
get their perfect pictures of and with the monkeys. We were constantly dodging
photos and videos making sure not to ruin their shots.
Every path you take your
faced with beautiful scenery from statues, to trees, to rivers, cliff faces,
beautiful bridges and of course an abundance of monkey’s every which way.
Spending around 2 hours
in the forest we made the rookie mistake of not taking any form of drink with
us and in the heat we were quickly becoming parched. We couldn't find anywhere within the forest that sold drinks either and all we could see was a free water station at the front reception when you entered and exited.
If you are after a very
unique experience then we totally suggest taking a few hours out of your day to
head to monkey forest. You can easily work this into a day trip and see it in
just over and hour.