In Reply to: Monkeys walks posted by ruthrat on Friday, 20. January 2006 at 05:48 Bali Time:
We (hubby & I) headed off for an early morning walk in Ubud one year and happened to be down near the entrance to the Monkey Forest on Monkey Forest Road when hundreds ... and I do mean literally hundreds of monkeys came streaming down the hill to enter the forest all at once. (via the front entrance I might add) The constant stream of monkeys at all levels lasted for a good 10mins or so. Most of them ran along the road, others scampered on top of walls and there was a canopy of monkeys swinging from the trees ... they were everywhere ... it was some sight and we were gobsmacked. Noisy too. We are not frightened of monkeys so were feeling privileged to witness such an amazing spectacle of such a huge pack of monkeys. (Not sure what the collective term is)I did take quite a few pics as licking the mossy structures at the entrance seemed to provide them with water or something they obviously enjoyed. I had my husband on the lookout the whole time I took pics as I don't trust them.
We were told by locals thet they go hunting after day break to scoure for left over food in offerings etc and that they all stay together in a huge pack. This was the first time we had ever seen anything like this.
So my advice is to chose to walk around that part of Ubud later in the morning or at another time and head off towards the market end of an early morning. Whilst we were fascinated by the experience I can fully understand that it could be terrifying for some. (Like me with a spider) Ubud is a great place so don't hold back exploring it ... just choose where you go early morning .... just in case. There was no signage saying monkeys cross here ealy morning or anything like that. Don't know if they stay in the trees at night, I've never seen any at night come to think of it.