Monkeying Around at Uluwatu Temple

This week, we visited Uluwatu, one of the six main temples in Bali. The temple was constructed in the 11th century by a Javanese sage, and it sits perched atop a sheer 70-meter cliff etched by the tides of the Indian Ocean below.

Uluwatu is home to hordes of wild monkeys, which are considered by locals as the guardians of the temple, though they seem to spend much more time trying to steal phones, hats, sunglasses, and jewellery from the visiting tourists than they do guarding the temple. During our visit, we watched as another tourist lost some (unknown) item of value to the monkeys, and the local tour guides put their lives on the line scaling the edges of the cliffs, shooting fruit at the monkeys with slingshots in an attempt to get them to drop the item (not sure how helpful this would have been if the monkeys had dropped it down the side of the cliff, but they seemed to have a plan!). From what we saw, the rescue attempt appeared to be…unfruitful…but the monkeys drove us away before we had a chance to see how the charade ended.

Little Miss and Young Master thought the whole episode was hilarious, but they were sure to keep tight hold onto all of their possessions and steer clear of the monkeys for the rest of the visit!