Primate Watching

Seeing this Species

 

Crab-eating macaques are among the easiest monkeys to see in the world. They grace temples across Southeast Asia, including:

 

Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom in Cambodia

 

in Lopburi, Thailand

   (Here they've literally taken over the city. Legend has it that, protected by living in the temple, they can not be controlled. The town feels barred against them. Street food stalls, ubiquitous in Southeast Asia, are absent here. Another local story, at least apocryphal, tells of a peanut vendor from out of town. Noticing no other stalls, she immediately opened one in Lopburi. A macaque came over for a peanut and she threw a stone out at it. Soon, a whole troop of macaques returned and attacked here. Locals also say that the macaques will, for fun, board the train and ride North, towards Chaing Mai and the rain forests, but they'll never board the train to ride South towards Bangkok.

 

in Phetchaburi, Thailand

 

the buddhas at Kien Lung, Vietnam

 

Batu Caves, Malaysia

 

If you'd prefer your macaques not urban, they can be found in most of the national parks in the region as well, from Vietnam South to Borneo.