Phillip's Galleries

The Sacred Monky Forest

At the end of Monkey Forest Road is the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, ”...a demonstration of the harmonious coexistence of humans and nature. ” In Bali, these cultural sanctuaries are an important part of Balinese heritage and also an important part of everyday live.

The sanctuary is home to about 220 long-tailed macaques, living in three distict troops.
The groups tend to use different areas of the forest at different times of the day.

The Wenara Wana staff care for and feed the monkeys.But the monkeys seem much
more interested in getting fruit from the tourists.

At first we were pretty timid around the monkeys. They are still wild animals and can be agressive.

We brought bananas to feed the monkeys, and we soon wished that we had brought much more than we did.

When we stepped away from our packs, we learned that the monkeys were eager for our water, as well.

The forest is owned by the village of Padangtegal, and is considered sacred.

The forest, the temples within it, and the animals are considered essential for renewing contact with the spiritual world.

We were cautioned to avoid eye contact, so as not to appear aggressive.

In addition to the monkeys, the forest is home to three temples, dating from the mid-14th century.

The Pura Dalem Agung is the largest, and is located in the highest point of the forest.

To enter the temple (”pura”), we needed to dress properly in sleeved shirts, sarongs, and sashes.
Inside, we met one of the friendly staff members, who told us more about the forest and monkeys.

When we sat still and held the food, the monkeys would climb right upon us to get it.

And we learned not to get too comfortable aroundthe monkeys.

The staff had different names for the monkeys.
We couldn’t pronounce the names in Balinese at all, we liked their translations:
”The friendly one”, ”The grouchy one”, ”The sleepy one”...

Saying hello to
"the friendly one"

This one was certainly friendly...

While we were taking pictures, the animals decide to look for food on their own.

This is the second temple we visited inside the forest.
The Pura Prajapati temple is a cremation temple located next to one of the two graveyards in the monkey forest.

By the end of the day, all we had to do was sit still for awhile and we’d get plenty of visitors.

And here they are!