Iwatayama Monkey Park in Arashiyama

 Feb. 28th found us starting our day at the Iwatayama Monkey Park out in Arashiyama.  Arashiyama is a suburb of Kyoto, and we took the metro out there.  This was our first time on the Kyoto metro...and we messed up.  Half of us got on, and the other half didn't.  We met up at the next station and somehow figured it out and got to the monkey park about 1 1/2 hours later than we wanted to. 

 After paying to get in, we had to walk up a steep path to the top of a small mountain.  The monkeys mainly live at the peak.  It was a pleasant hike, with beautiful trees and a small stream at the bottom of the ravine.

 Near the top, Chris spotted our first monkey.  It was sitting next to the tree in this picture between Nathan and Audra.

Here is a better view of him.  He was sunning himself and grooming his fur.

 Once we made it to the peak of the mountain, we went into a building with wire on three sides. 

Japanese macaques, also known as snow monkeys, are native to Japan and are a type of monkey which inhabit three out of four main islands of Japan. 

For 100 yen, we could buy a small bag of cut apples or peanuts to feed the monkeys. 

 We bought four bags and had a blast feeding these fun animals.

 You just put a piece of food in your palm and hold it out for the monkey to reach in through the wires and grab it out of your hand.  Sometimes, they scratched you as they grabbed the food, but it didn't hurt too bad.

  Some were even fighting over the food, which made it a memorable experience to watch.

 

 Once we were done feeding the snow monkeys, we went outside the building to check out the view of Kyoto.

 There were park rangers all over keeping a close eye on the snow monkeys, but we were pretty much free to walk around and watch the monkeys.

 There were specific rules such as don't touch a snow monkey and do not look them in the eye. 

 At this park, each monkey has a name.  The park rangers were walking around, talking to the monkeys and calling each of them by their names.  The monkeys seemed to respond to them. 

 Every day at 10:30, 12:30, and 2:30 the monkeys are fed by the park staff, and it is definitely not to be missed. They play hilarious theme music and have the monkeys follow them like a modern-day pied piper. We were hoping to make it to the 10:30 feeding, but because we were late arriving, we watched the 12:30 feeding instead.

 This is the best time to see the large amount of monkeys that are there hiding between feedings; as the park ranger tossed food around, monkeys were coming out from all over.  The park ranger told us that there are currently 120 macaques in the park.

 I love this picture.  Big brother Logan holding Audra's hand making sure that she is safe while they look at the snow monkeys.

Our family picture--with one extra addition.

As if the snow monkeys weren't cool enough by themselves, there was a really long slide that we could go down to begin our trek back down the mountain.

Even Kirstina got in on the action.

 This kid has always, always loved slides.  He was freaking out over this one.

The kids went down several times before we could tear them away and make our way down and on to our next adventure.
This place was awesome, and we won't ever forget it!