Attacked on the trail to monkey beach
This is the story about how we got attacked by an angry family of Macaques on the closed trail to Monkey Beach in Pulau Pinang National Park, Malaysia. So read on to find out how this happened and what we were doing on a closed trail in the first place.
Looking for Penang’s beaches
As soon as we got to the island of Penang we started looking for beaches to go to. We went on Google and what we found out about Penang’s beaches is that they aren’t so special and you can’t even swim in most of the places, because of the many jellyfish in the water.
So we gave up on the idea, thinking that anyway, we will go to Indonesia and Thailand which have top beaches with clear water. Or at least that’s what we’ve heard. But more on that when we’ll get there.
Meanwhile, in Penang, we still have one day to explore the surroundings of Georgetown. We find out about a somewhat remote beach in Penang’s National Park, Taman Negara. Actually, “Taman Negara” means “National Park” in Malay. But it is known amongst tourists as Taman Negara National Park.
What caught our attention was the 3km hike to the Monkey Beach, through the rain forest. We haven’t done a hike in a while, so we’re so looking forward to getting out there on some nature trails! Apart from that, we’ll get to see some wildlife, as this beach is known for being home to the Crab-eating Macaques.
Getting to the National Park
It’s a hot sunny day, with clear sky – beautiful weather! We walk almost 1km from our Airbnb to the bus station and we already feel roasted. But the bus has AC, so as weird as it may sound we’re looking forward to the bus ride.
The bus journey from Komtar Station to Taman Negara takes roughly one hour. Before entering the park, we are being advised by some people from the information desk that the trail to the Monkey Beach is closed. And that we can only reach the beach by boat. We say “ok” and continue walking towards the park entrance. There, we see a sign which says that we need to go and register. Which we do straight away.
There’s this window in the main building, where one person sits on a chair with a registration book in front of him. That’s where you enter all your details (name, passport number, exact time when you entered the park, final destination within the park, means of reaching that destination and check-out time meant to be completed when you exit the park).
Knowing that the sign said that the trail to the Monkey Beach is closed, we had a look at the people who registered before us. Most of them wrote that they’re going to the Monkey Beach. And by the looks of it, a few chose to hike to the beach.
We just left the field blank not knowing if it’s mandatory or not to do what the sign says. Usually you’re supposed to listen to official signs, but we had doubts. And that’s because we’ve read many reviews on Google, which said that despite the fact that everybody says the trail is closed, they still did it and they enjoyed it.
Starting the hike
So we follow the signs for Monkey Beach. At first, there is a path of concrete and then you reach a point where it says that you’re now “entering the national park”. You cross a really subbed bridge and then there’s no more concrete.
This is what we’ve been waiting for! Muddy trails. We walk around 2km and then we find ourselves on a beach with some buildings. Just like that. In the middle of nowhere. We later find out that these buildings are actually the Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies. But back to our hike.
We see a long pier and realise that this is where you can get the boat from to take you to the Monkey Beach. As there’s nobody there to tell us anything, we continue our way towards the end of this beach to what seems a dead end.
However, if you make your way through the mangroves, you will soon see the trail again. We continue walking and meet 2 more people along the way. They are making their way back to the park entrance.
The attack
At least we know we’re on the right trail! There’s 1km left to go, and now the fun begins. As we get closer and closer to the beach, we hear sounds, see movements in the trees and feel like we’re being watched.
We take a break to drink some water and out of nowhere a monkey approaches us. It seems really determined and waits for the chance to grab from us whatever he can, so we know we need to hold on tight to our things. We make sure we don’t have any things hanging from our backpacks as we continue with our walk. In 10 meters only, we come across a fallen tree. On that tree we see three female monkeys with their babies and a male monkey. The babies are so cute and we stop and take pictures.
Because we stay there for a few minutes, the male monkey starts being agitated and aggressive. So we know it’s time to leave now. However, the only way we can go is by passing under the tree and he makes it so difficult for us. He is in attack mode, thinking that we are a treaty to his family. We try and distract him and one by one we finally manage to cross on the other side of the tree. By the time we cross we realise that there are now as many as 12-15 macaques starring at us.
It was quite a terrifying moment and at some point I (Valeria) thought to myself that it would be better if we’d go home. Those fangs look good on them, but they definitely don’t look good pierced into our skin and flash. Even when we crossed, we had to run, as the male would come running towards us to attack. And because it is sitting on the tree, higher than us, that gives him much more confidence to attack.
Anyway, we’ve managed to get through safe and sound. And I’m sure the monkeys were also glad that we left.
The part of the trail that is now closed was ok…ish. As long as it’s not raining or it hasn’t rained I don’t think there’s anything to worry about. There are a few fallen trees, one spot where there was a landslide and in some parts you need to be careful when you walk on the wooden bridge. Other than that, all is good. Oh, and we got to see some monitor lizards too, which was amazing.
Monkey Beach
About 500m from where the monkey episode happened, we hear voices and see a set of steps which leads to the beach. After around 1h and 30 minutes we made it to the Monkey Beach.
The hike can be done in less than that, but we stopped a lot for photos.
Once we reach the beach, we dive straight into the water. The water is so warm but refreshing enough to cool us down. It is exactly what we needed!
Even now we don’t know if we were allowed to swim there or not, because when we entered the park there was a sign saying “no swimming”. And this beach is part of Tamara Negara. However, we’ve seen other people doing it and it was so hot that we couldn’t resist. Especially after a one and a half hour hike.
Now it’s time for some fresh coconuts and to just relax!
Monkeys come on the beach looking for food and people feed them. We definitely don’t see this as a good thing. And even being attacked by them on our way to the beach comes down to this – people feeding them. Normally they should be afraid of humans, but because they know we bring food and most of the time feed them, they will come to us instead of avoiding us.
As we chill while drinking our coconut water, we look around and come to the realisation that this hike was truly worth it. And that Monkey Beach is a really beautiful place. Secluded with not a lot of tourists. The water is clean and on top of it, even the beach is clean. We were really worried after reading all the reviews which said that the beach is full of rubbish. Maybe at some point it was. But when we went there, it was clean and no rubbish floating in the sea. And about it not being touristy, maybe it’s only down to the fact that we went there around 4-5pm, which is already late.
It starts getting late and we are wondering if we should go back through the forest or take a boat. In some parts of the forest it must be really dark by now, so we decide to go back by boat to the park’s entrance. In less than 10 minutes we arrive at the entrance and head to the register office to check-out. It is only 6.30pm and there is already nobody there. And no sign of the registration book either.
So, really? What’s the point in registering in the first place? As far as they know, we are still in that forest. And it doesn’t say anywhere that you need to exit the park and sign out before a certain time.
Anyway, with this being said, we’re ready to go home and to conclude a day full of adventure. One that we will never forget!
How we got to the park
How we got back
October 4, 2018 @ 3:01 am
Hello very nice blog!! Guy .. Excellent .. Amazing .. I will bookmark your website and take the feeds also…I’m glad to seek out numerous useful information right here in the put up, we want develop more strategies on this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .
November 28, 2021 @ 3:31 am
we are going to Penang island for 4 days 3 nites next week. Thanks for some information about Monkey beach and it definitely helps in our trip planning.