We took a bit of a milk run to get here - train, bus and walking but so worth it. We felt like we had stepped into a David Attenborough documentary on the Japanese macaque monkeys. Had to pinch ourselves that we were actually here.
These are the famous snow monkeys that you see pictures of them sitting in the thermal pools covered in snow during the winter. No snow today obviously but nonetheless so much fun and interesting. We were enthralled.
The National Park is located in the Yokoyu River. Altitude of 850m with steep cliffs and steam rising from the hot springs. Snow covered for 4 months of the year. This is the Japanese macaques happy place as they bathe, sit in the hot springs in the harsh winter weather or come down to drink and generally muck about. There are over 200 in the troop and "keepers" watch over them in so far as visitors let the monkeys roam easily.
Understood that they have been living in this area since "ancient times.
They were absolutely non plussed by the 40 odd tourists milling about the pools and river. Live video cameras are on all the time and tapped into by primate researchers.
The keepers do blow a whistle and the herd literally pours down the steep cliffs in the hope of apples or bean seeds. Pavlovian response again. But they also love lounging around in the sun, constantly groooming or mucking about in the river, turning over the rocks for anything of interest.
There is catcher netting on some of the cliff sides to stop falling rocks rather than keep the monkeys restricted.
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