Alas Kedaton: Sacred Temple in the Middle of Monkey Forest

If you think that there is only one monkey forest in Bali you can visit, then you are wrong. Besides Ubud Monkey Forest, there are two more famous monkey forests you can visit in Bali. They are Sangeh Monkey Forest and Alas Kedaton Monkey Forest.

Sangeh Monkey Forest is located in Sangeh Village, Petang District, Badung Regency, while Alas Kedaton Monkey Forest is located in Kukuh Village, Marga District, Tabanan Regency. These monkey forests have their own uniqueness, but if you are looking for more than just forest that is full of monkeys, you should visit Alas Kedaton Monkey Forest.

It takes around 1 hour to reach Alas Kedaton Monkey Forest from Denpasar. Alas Kedaton Monkey Forest is a small forest with a total area around 12 hectares and about 2 thousand population of monkeys. The monkeys in Alas Kedaton Monkey Forest are similar to the monkeys in Ubud and Sangeh Monkeys Forest. If you are lucky you also can see big bats in Alas Kedaton Monkey Forest.

The monkeys in Alas Kedaton Monkey Forest are friendly and used to interact with humans. But you still need to careful with your own things. The monkeys of Alas Kedaton Monkey Forest maybe get interested in your camera or phone. You also can feed the monkeys of Alas Kedaton Monkey Forest with peanuts or banana, but still you need to be careful.

The one that makes Alas Kedaton Monkey Forest special is there is a sacred temple inside the forest. The temple inside of Alas Kedaton Monkey Forest is one of the oldest temples in Bali that was built in the 10th century. The temple of Alas Kedaton Monkey Forest is also special because it has different rituals and traditions of praying. First, the Hindu people who are praying in the temple of Alas Kedaton Monkey Forest are not allowed to use incenses.

All the ceremonies and praying things in Alas Kedaton Monkey Forest have to be done before evening because it is also not allowed to turn on the lights. All these traditions are kept by the villagers around Alas Kedaton Monkey Forest and they still doing it until now. The discipline of the villagers around Alas Kedaton Monkey Forest is not only about the ceremonies, but they also obedient with the rule of not cutting any trees and disturb the natural living of the monkeys in Alas Kedaton Monkey Forest. The discipline of the villagers to protect the nature makes Alas Kedaton Monkey Forest still natural even though many tourists come to visit Alas Kedaton Monkey Forest.

Alas Kedaton Bali is located in strategic area. You can visit Alas Kedaton Bali before or after you visit Bedugul because you will pass Alas Kedaton Bali in your way to Bedugul. Since that Alas Kedaton Bali is closed before evening, you can continue your trip to Tanah Lot to see the sunset after you visit Alas Kedaton Bali because these temples are not so far and still in Tabanan regency.