Our major goal for today is the Jigokudani Monkey Park to see the well known Japanese monkeys. The monkeys are famous because, especially in winter, they take baths in the hot thermal springs to keep the cold at bay. Our ryokan host tells us of an alternate parking spot that is supposedly free but it seems we miss it and find a completely desolate spot that however has a sign to the Monkey Park.
As it looks like a nice hike we stop and park in a parking lot that likely serves a ski area in the winter and start down on an overgrown trail towards the park.
After descending for a while we intersect the trail that we should have found originally, the official Monkey Park trail. While there is still a bit to walk from here the trail now is level and well maintained, so we make good time compared to the stairs previously.
There are quite a few signs along the way and most of them are translated also in English, but not all of them. There aren’t many people this early in the morning which makes for a nice and quiet hike.
The walk through the jungle is quite exciting with some interesting flora and fauna. We are surprised to see a crab on the way, we were not aware of how common they can be in tropical forests.
More exciting is a snake that we see in a bush slithering away, we later identify it as a Tiger Keelback, a venomous snake. Given that it is a jungle it shouldn’t have surprised us to see snakes but it does given that it is so close to the trail. And then we notice our first snow monkey following us but the excitement quickly transform into apprehension as we are alone in the forest on a trail followed by a large male monkey.
As he is getting closer we walk faster however at almost the last minute he lazily decides to take a bridge to a village on the other side of the river. Likely he didn’t even care about us as he is habituated with humans however we are not habituated with them and their behavior :).
As we are calming down after the excitement we notice a geyser in the distance. This is a surprise and we decide to approach it to examine it closer.
As it erupts continuously it seems a bit suspicious and from close up we notice that it actually spouts from an artificial tube so more likely it is an artificial water fountain but it really looks geyser like. This confusion isn’t cleared until we do further research at home, it is a natural hot water geyser called Shibu-no-Jigokudani Funsen that shoots boiling water at a temperature of 100°C up to 20 m high and it has been active since 35 million years ago. Impressive!
From the geyser it is a short climb to the visitor center and entrance to the monkey park. While we have seen already one monkey we hope to see more inside and we are not disappointed as there are monkeys everywhere.
While it may sound like a zoo the Monkey Park is actually a protected area where the Japanese macaques can come and go as they please. Of course there are certain incentives for them to return like food and the hot water in winter. As we enter we notice that the park already has quite a few visitors that obviously arrived from a different parking spot than us.
The park is traversed by a fast river which has a footbridge over it (for humans) and a few ropes (for monkeys).
The monkeys really enjoy the ropes and especially the bucket placed beneath that they use as a resting place and vantage point.
But their preferred spot seems to be the hot spring basin where they sit around lazily or search for food.
Mostly really they stand lazily around, it can be quite boring to be a monkey and have everyone at your feet and get everything you desire. Or at least to us they look bored…
The more active ones seem to like to swim often which in our mind is a good exercise as otherwise they would just sit around lazily like the other ones in their troop.
The Park has a livecam so you can see the monkeys however it seems that they do not want to cooperate and actually sit on the camera and below it on the wires but not in front of it.
But the camera still has a look of the pool where most likely there are at least a few monkeys. Which stand with the back to it of course just to spite it.
As we return back to the visitor center to exit the park we notice monkeys everywhere in different postures but the most impressive sight is of a mother carrying her child on the back, quite interesting. The walk back to the car is uneventful however just as we enter the car in starts raining so we have to decide what to do in the afternoon given the rain. In the end we decide to go with our host recommendation and visit Obuse, a nearby town that has a few museums and therefore we can hide inside in case of rain.
