An early start in Matsuyama was needed for
us to make it to Yawatahama to catch a ferry to Beppu.
Beppu is a city in the Oita prefecture well
known for its many onsen. We however weren’t there to spend time in the hot
baths, we made a quick stop there to see the monkey habitat on Takasakiyama.
As we aren’t stopping in Nagano during this
trip, I thought this would be an excellent place to see the Macaques that live
in the Japanese mountains. The monkeys here don’t have a hot spring to sit in,
but they do have a nice roped off area with a jungle gym and water to spend
time in. They also get seeds and sweet potatoes when they come down from their
mountain homes.
On the tram ride up to the main park area
we met a volunteer tour guide who spoke English. She was very helpful in
answering questions about the monkeys that frequent the park.
The park is home to two troops and each
will arrive at the park at different times. The morning troop has over 700 monkeys
and the afternoon troop, which we saw, has over 600 monkeys. In total the
mountain is home to over 1300 monkeys and the two groups don’t mix at the park.
We made our visit at what is the most
adorable time to see the monkeys. This is because the baby monkeys were born
not to long ago. The mother monkeys would either carry the babies on their
backs or hanging from their fronts. It was also cute to see them swinging and
climbing or just playing with rocks.
It was a fun way to spend an afternoon
before making the long drive to Nagasaki.
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