Monkey business with a happy ending

Recently Judith and a group of scuba diver friends travelled from Vancouver British Columbia, Canada to Bali for two weeks of amazing diving and r & r. Before heading back home they took a day trip to some local attractions. One stop along the way was this increasingly popular stop along the roadway where these monkeys have started to congregate near Sang Hyang Ambu. In the video you will see just how well these little monkeys look after and care for each other, sometimes appearing just a little too well. By the little one’s smile, you can tell he is definately enjoying his treatment. Apparently Over the last while, hundreds of monkeys have descended from Gumang Hill and now hang around all over the place, even on the main road to the capital city of Karangasem Regency. It is now becoming a tourist attraction in itself as it is ideally located for travellers along this route to take a short break. It is also just East of the amazing Candidasa beach. A local resident explained to Judith that the monkeys come down from the hills at around 08.00 a.m. and hang around for two or three hours before returning to the hilltop. At first, the monkeys were believed to be the pets of the supernatural ruler of the vicinity and appeared quite wild. More recently, however, contact with humans and an easy supply of food has tamed their atavistic spirit, and now they are quite friendly. Highway travellers often stop here since it lies at a strategic point on the Denpasar - Amlapura main road and is the only entry point to Gumang Temple. Another resident mentioned he feels that the monkeys descend because of the lengthened dry season that accounts for a decreasing food supply. This in turn has attracted travellers to the area, and led the head of the regency to seriously consider developing this little-known spot further.