Scared Monkey Forest Sanctuary

March 23
Decided during breakfast that I should go the Monkey Forest Sanctuary in the morning before the day got too warm. I hired a taxi to take me.

My very colourful breakfast.....
Dragon fruit juice

French toast with nuttella

Banana tree with bananas

The Monkey Forest lies within the village of Padangtegal, which owns it. The village's residents view the Monkey Forest as an important spiritual, economic, educational, and conservation center for the village. There are three Hindu temples located within the sanctuary, around 700 monkeys, 186 species of trees in 12.5 hectares of forest. The types of monkeys that live in the sanctuary are known as the Balinese long-tailed monkey (Macaca monkeys).

There are five groups of monkeys in the park, each occupying different territories; one group inhabits the area in front of the Main Temple, another the park's Michelin area, a third the park's eastern area, and a fourth the park's central area, while the fifth group lives in the cremation and cemetery area. Because of the large population, the conflicts between groups of monkey cannot be avoided. The monkeys rest at night and are most active during the day.

I bought a small bunch of bananas from the park workers, they carry slingshots with which to intimidate aggressive monkeys and intervene quickly in confrontations between monkeys and humans.






Here are a few status in around the sanctuary

The Balinese new year will be celebrated on March 28 and is celebrated over six days. On the third day, there is Nyepi, the day of silence. The island comes to a halt. There are no flights scheduled, no one can leave or enter Bali at this time. Everything is closed and no light is meant to be lit. Hotels have leeway on this, due to the tourists, but they cover their windows and there are a minimal number of staff working. No one is allowed to drive or walk around, and everyone is meant to stay indoors. There are even watchmen who patrol the streets to make sure no one is outside.

Nyepi falls on the day after the spring equinox and is a day of silence, self-reflection, meditation and in some cases, fasting. It is a national holiday in Indonesia, and Hindu areas perform the same rituals, but Bali is where the biggest Nyepi celebrations take place.

One fun part of the Balinese new year is the Ogoh-Ogoh parades on ‘Nyepi Eve,’ for the Bhuta Yajna ritual. Large, scary-looking statues are carried through the streets with lots of music and noise. They are brought to the beach in a torch-lit procession while people bang pots and beep horns to make as much noise as they can, to scare away evil. This is called mabuu-buu.The statues are of demons, representing negative elements. Walking back to town I stumbled on some people building Ogoh-Ogoh.