Monkey Mountain

Ok well, ive been beyond lazy here lately and have not been good about the blog. So let me make up some lost ground. Last weekend we headed off for Monkey Mountain. This area is located in Shatin, about 30 minutes from our house. The mountain’s real name is Kam Shan, but its new found stardom lead to a name change. It’s a beautiful zoo, where we were able to view all sorts of monkeys, and a variety of species. NOT. Let me assure you that Monkey Mountain, is as wild as it gets. The place is completely ridiculous. Its a more secluded, lesser developed area, that is great for the occasional hike. This is what draws the monkeys to the area. . . tourists. The trail itself follows the edge of the Kowloon Reservoir, which alone can draw a nice size crowd. As you can expect, a great way to pass time is to feed these cute little creatures. As time passed, over feeding has lead to a boom in population, and now there are literally monkeys, swinging all over the place.

It has been scientifically confirmed, that Hong Kong has NO native species of monkey. Where did they all come from…. Escaped pets, which have over multiplied and now dominate this area of Hong Kong. You are asked by large red lettered posters NOT to feed the animals. I got the impression that someone told all the tourists that the monkeys were starving, bc everyone brought loads fruit to feed them. The posters don't seem to help though, as cars just park in-front of them, and whole families joined in providing a feast to the one-time Pets.

The irony in the place is that those signs which the families have so kindly blocked, clearly state that monkey feeding has resulted in numerous severe monkey attacks. Thankfully, the tourists we watched were prepared for this and armed themselves with sticks to beat off the ‘too-close-for-comfort’ monkey.

In the end, we managed to escape, though we did utilize some tree branches of our own at one point. 30 minutes later I was back in the middle of downtown HK. I mean seriously come on…. Wild monkeys 30 minutes from my house… you cant even make this stuff up, and sadly; it doesn’t even surprise me anymore.

Until next time…