There are a few Monkey Forests on the island of Bali, but I visited the one that was located within the town of Ubud. The Monkey Forest is a sacred nature reserve where a lot of monkeys live [of course]. There is a temple inside this Monkey Forest and it’s a very relaxing place to take a stroll.
At the entrance of the Forest, there is a booth to pay for admission which costs 20,000 Rupiah [US$2.23] per person. I paid this because I thought I had to, however, I found out later in the day that they don’t really care and you can just walk right in. There are also locals at the entrance that are selling bananas [for another 20,000 Rupiah] so that you can feed the wild monkeys and their babies [which are really cute].
Although feeding wild monkeys may seem entertaining, I would advise against this because the monkeys can get a bit aggressive. While I was there, I saw three monkeys pull on a girl’s long skirt and showing their teeth to scare her, and another girl that was almost in tears running away throwing her bananas at them to try to get them away.
I did say that I thought this place was relaxing and a nice place to take a walk, but you have to just be careful to not make any monkeys upset. If you cross paths with an angry monkey, you will be sorry. They may look cute while they are eating a banana or holding a baby monkey, but they are really scary when hissing, yelling, and showing their teeth about to attack! And they rile each other up which is even scarier… I literally ran from an angry monkey while I was there. I don’t know what the heck his problem was…
Nevertheless, it’s still worth seeing! Enjoy!
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