Photos

Monkeys hold a special place in Hindu culture as they are believed to embody both positive and negative forces. This means that the Balinese both hate and love them; it’s a bit like the English perception towards the footballer David Beckham. Hence, the monkeys that live by sacred Balinese Hindu temple sites (like the Sacred Monkey Forest) tend to be revered and protected while the monkeys that sometimes raid rice fields or snatch items from souvenir shops are seen as pests. I took this shot of a mother monkey and her child in the hills. They were not aggressive like the ones at the Uluwatu temple on the south coast of Bali where they like to steal visitors’ sunglasses and other personal items.

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