Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, Ubud

The occasionally aggressive monkeys of Ubud’s world famous monkey forest – official title Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary – will go for your bananas without asking first and you should be prepared for this. The vendors out front of the forest will sell them to you, with no advance warning so be prepared. The monkeys won’t bite you, but they will gang up and start hissing before they begin their attack on your food supplies and it can be a scary experience. The monkeys aren’t dangerous but if you are bitten and blood is drawn, you will need to take evasive action in regards to tetanus and hepatitis as with any animal bite.

The Monkey Forest is one of Ubud’s main attractions but only begins the list of must sees in this unmissable part of Bali. It’s the first thing you will see on your left in you arrive in Ubud from Kuta on a motor bike as the Monkey Forest is right there at the southern end of town, just near the rice slopes.

Over 300 monkeys now live here, a huge increase on numbers that had been dwindling in the wild for decades. The sanctuary is also known as The Monkey Forest of Padangtegal and in this incarnation it is a sacred Buddhist site. The Buddhist ecology monks that are active at the site are committed to ecology and conservation and their successes with the flora and fauna of Ubud and Bali is acclaimed around the world.

The surrounding area is home to two thousand people who follow traditional Balinese lifestyles. The Monkey Forest is central to Ubud’s community and culture groups and brings the bulk of tourists and their tourist dollar into the area.