It’s easy to find forests in Bali, but it depends on what do you want to do during your holiday. Every forest has a unique atmosphere. For example, if you want to walk around in the middle of a “monkey kingdom”, you should go to the Monkey Forest Sangeh. You’ll find so many long-tailed grey monkeys. You can play with them, feed them, or even make them as your photo objects.

Monkey Forest Sangeh

If you hear the word monkey forest you might immediately remember a place in Ubud. But, there’s another monkey forest in Badung Regency, on Jalan Brahmana Sangeh Village, Abiansemal District. It’s called Monkey Forest Sangeh.

Sangeh Monkey Forest has an area of around 13 hectares and is dominated by Nutmeg Trees. Sangeh itself comes from two words in Balinese. "Sang" means "human" and "Ngeh" means "see". So Sangeh means people who see. This name is given to the ancient Balinese legend. According to the story, there was a daughter of a God from Mount Agung who wanted to move to Mengwi. The trip is done at night. It is said that at night the princess was accompanied by a nutmeg forest during her trip. 

But because someone saw this, the nutmeg forest then stopped walking. Well, this area was later given the name Sangeh. In the forest, you don't only meet gray monkeys, you know. Because you can see so many nutmeg trees and temples in the middle of the forest. The first temple is Bukit Sari. The Balinese believe this temple belongs to the forest guard goddess who travels at night to Mengwi. The second smaller temple is called Pura Melanting. 

Both temples and the monkey in the forest are very sanctified by the local residents. The Balinese believe that the monkeys in the forest are the Goddess soldiers who guard the forest. In addition, you can also see the statue of a giant named Ravana being attacked by a lot of monkeys. This is certainly related to the Ramayana story. 

After touring the forest, you will find a very large nutmeg tree and purified by local residents. This tree is unique because its trunk forms the male and female genital parts. So this tree is called the Wadon Lanang Tree. It means male and female tree. 

Anyway, if you want to visit the forest, you should buy bananas and nuts to feed the monkey. Also, wear comfortable and simple clothes and footwear. Don’t bring too much bags, because it could trigger the monkey to take your items. 

The gray monkeys are scattered in the eastern, central, and western regions of the forest. So be prepared if you meet a crowd of monkeys. They are not dangerous, but it's a good idea to stay alert. Avoid staring at them too long, because they will think you are intimidating them so they will not hesitate to attack.