Wild Monkeys at Zhangjiajie

When we got to Zhangjiajie – the famed Chinese national park where James Cameron got the idea for the Pandora scenery from his hit movie Avatar, the last thing we expected to see were wild monkeys. Sure, the sign said “don’t tease the monkeys”, but we were used to those American road signs indicating alligators, rhinoceros, all sorts of exotic animals that never actually cross the road.

So we smirked at the sign, shrugged out shoulders, and were on our way down through the romantically named Golden Whip Stream.

It must have been the sound of Dave crunching on our stash of crackers that put this guy on our tail. At first, we didn’t know how to react. What does one do when a monkey is following them? How long is he going to do this? Was our behavior considered “teasing”? The sign never mentioned the consequences of said “teasing.” We had heard a few stories of fatal monkey attacks from American zoos (usually when someone accidentally falls into the pit).

Here there was no pit. Would the monkeys pounce on us and claw our eyes out if we didn’t hand over the crackers? We slowly but confidently continued walking, but the little guy could smell the treats on us and he wouldn’t budge.

In the end, the monkey succeeded – we handed over the tray of crackers, and the gluttonous little guy ate every single one, undisturbed and without having to share. I hate to litter but there was just no getting that back without appearing aggressive. After seeing one monkey we assumed that would be it. Check. How lucky can you really be? Besides, we were all out of crackers.

But we were mistaken.

After only a few more minutes of walking we stumbled upon an entire gang of them (gaggle? Swarm? Pride? What does one call a group of monkeys?) We had discovered one particular cluster of them, where we spent at least 20 minutes observing adorable monkey behavior. The babies are just irresistible.

Even when they have mama monkey shielding them from all the commotion.

Especially when they are grooming each other.

Somewhat scary when big boss monkey comes down to sort out the situation.

Pretty funny when they make faces.

And downright hilarious watching one monkey dig through the trash for a snack and then sit on a pole, on the look out, to make sure he doesn’t have to share.

We had missed monkey park in Arashimaya, Kyoto and assumed that our chance to see monkeys in the wild was long gone. Travel, it seems, has once again shattered our expectations.