Monkey Mountain

My favourite place in Hong Kong definitely has to be 'Monkey Mountain'. It's called Monkey Mountain because there are lots of monkeys on it.

From what I've read ' there are 3 different types of monkey on the mountain, but all stem from escaped pets & are not native to these parts. They are thinking of re-introducing a few gibbon species, but what this would do to the local monkey population, I'm not quite sure.

You are asked by large red lettered posters NOT to feed the animals. People tend to think the monkeys are starving, so turn up with car-boot loads of fruit to feed them. The posters don't seem to help though, as these cars just park in-front of them, obscuring the message from all-comers, grab a long stick & open their car boots.

This sight leads a couple of inquisitive & knowledgeable monkeys to the car, where the owner throws out a couple of apples. Next thing you know, there are about 200 monkeys approaching from every direction. Within 1 minute the car owner is surrounded & is busy beating off the monkeys with his stick, as they get a little too close to the car/him.

This is the time for monkey fights, as the big ones just push to the front of the monkey posse & grab fruit straight from the mans hand or they just steal fruit from the younger, smaller apes. These fights can get a bit gruesome & send the pulses racing if caught in the middle of one. Quite a few of these monkeys have eyes or legs missing & they grow to a size where they could do you some damage.

It's quite ironic really, as the poster the car owner is obscuring actually states that feeding the animals has resulted in a lot more monkey attacks & in return complaints about the behaviour of the monkeys. And there you have him, parked in-front of it beating off the advancing monkeys with a stick, as he frantically tries to throw every last fruit out of his car before they finally over power him with sheer numbers.

The more aggressive ones are the ones that are closest to the main road. I advise anyone thinking of coming year to definitely not bring any food & to be on the safe side, maybe not bring any bags at all.

My brother & his fiancée came & visited earlier this year & I wanted to show him the monkey action. We bought 5 bananas & 4 apples from the local fruit stall. After walking 10 yards from the main road, we had been harassed & now stalked by 5 or 6 monkeys. After a close monkey-shave, my brother handed the bag of fruit to my girlfriend, who in turn handed the bag to me.

I thought I'd just get rid of the fruit to save the hassle so pulled an apple out. Before I had a chance to throw it at the oncoming flood of monkeys, one of the larger fuckers had jumped on me & ripped a big hole out of the bag, before grabbing the apple out of my other hand. I pushed him off me & saw all of the fruit in my bag fall out of the hole & roll towards him as he sat munching 5 yards away.

When the 'monkey-feeding-kamikaze-warriors' aren't about, life is quite tranquil on Monkey Mountain. You've got a few families of monkeys here.

The monkeys tend to pretty much ignore you if you are not carrying anything & you can get quite close to them & watch as they delouse each other, play, scratch, etc. The little baby ones are really cute & have massive ears, which make them look quite silly. Their head/ear ratio changes as they age though, which is a shame.

A couple of years ago, I saw on the news that one of the monkeys had made it down from the mountain to Tsim Sha Tsui, (which is right on the end of the Kowloon Peninsula) & somehow managed to avoid death, as it meandered it's way through the heavily congested streets of one of the worlds most populated cities.

The following day, there was news video footage of the monkey in Causeway Bay on Hong Kong Island. Somehow, it had made its' way over the harbour. Talk of whether the monkey got a minibus through the tunnel or was able to blag a concession fare on the Star Ferry started rumbling around town.

It was eventually caught & returned back to the trees.