Saturday 22/02/2020 Snow Monkey Park
Nagano, JAPAN
Participants: Stephen Davies (Photos), Sue Davies (Report)
We had a wonderful visit to the Jigokudani Monkey park in the Joshinetsu-Kogen National Park. This is apparently the only place in then world where wild monkeys (Japanese Macaque – Macaca fuscata) bathe in hot springs and they really seemed to enjoy it!
This route was reconstructed from memory using Google Earth Pro and GPS Visualizer.
Max elevation: 892 m
Total climbing: 417 m
Total descent: -418 m
Average speed: nan km/h
The Snow Monkey Park is located in the Nagano Prefecture and it was a direct bus ride from the village of Nozawa Onsen where we were staying. It is not necessary to take a tour (more expensive). The bus trip was just over one hour each way. It is accessible by train and bus from Tokyo but that would make for a long day of travelling. The walk to the park from the bus stop is approximately two kilometres each way. Leave enough time for the return journey, we just made it back in time to catch the only return bus for the day. The monkeys are very entertaining!
Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata)
After leaving the bus we started along the lovely forest path to reach the National Park. There was some remaining snow on the forest floor but the path itself was clear. It was a very pleasant stroll for a few kilometres through the maple trees until we reached the entrance to the National Park.
An entry fee is payable and the rules for entry were made clear; no food or plastic bags are permitted. This has helped to make the human presence not that interesting for the macaque. They seemed unperturbed by people and continued their usual routine of bathing, resting and extensive preening of each other without seemingly a care in the world.
There are several observation points, the main pools and also along the river. It was easy lose track of time watching the monkey’s antics and interactions between family members. We spent about three hours in total watching and photographing these interesting animals.
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You can spend hours just watching the young ones play.
I think you were there just after Helen and I in Feb. There was a bit more snow around when we visited 2and week of Feb.
We need to better coordinate our overseas trips in the future to at least cross paths for a day’s skiing together.
Great photos Steve.