Thievery at Uluwatu Temple

Ania and I decided to visit the peninsula south of Kuta with our scooter. Not only did we find a beautiful, unpolluted beach but we also had the chance to visit a major temple on the island.

The temple, Uluwatu, was built in the 11th century. Interestingly at the entrance we were offered “monkey protection” for 10 USD. A message warned tourists to remove any shiny items, hats, or any other objects that may be of interest to the resident monkeys.

As we reached the main courtyard of the temple, we saw dozens of monkeys hanging out in trees and on the ground. Many of them were playing a catch-me-if-you-can kind of game in a small pool, which was hilarious. These monkeys are not that much of a threat, I thought to myself.

Then I saw a monkey sneak up behind a young student, jump on his backpack and snatch the cap of the kid in the blink of an eye. The crowd burst out laughing as the kid tried to understand what had just happened. By now it was too late: the monkey was high on a tree branch holding his prized possession.

Throwing objects at the monkey, yelling at it or cursing at it yielded nothing. Only the intervention of a “guard” armed with monkey snacks brought any result. Basically, the monkey will trade whatever it stole in return of a treat.

No wonder monkeys are such adept thieves in Uluwatu. :)

I had to defend myself once against a coordinated attack from the sneaky little bastards. It turned out that Ania was an accomplice to the monkey, too. I was sitting nicely on a flight of stairs while Ania was taking a few pictures. However, she saw two monkeys creep up behind me and jump of my backpack. Their target was one Bob the Builder, renowned building contractor. However, Bob was strapped tightly to the backpack which meant that the monkeys had to retreat empty-handed.

Ania managed to get a perfect shot of the thieves. Have a look at the pictures!