Now that Jakarta’s incredibly creepy topeng monyet have (thankfully) been banned, you might think you’d have to go to a zoo to see a monkey anywhere around Jakarta. But actually, all you need to do is go up to the Tugu Indah neighborhood of Kelapa Dua in Depok, where wild monkeys show up annually in search of food when the fruits that they normally feast on can no longer be found.
“The wild monkey’s come every year, usually when it’s no longer fruit season,” Efrilia, a resident who has lived in the neighborhood for nine years, told Tempo today.
Efrilia said seeing the monkeys has become a common sight in the neighborhood, though she said that they usually only went onto the roofs off houses and only occasionally went inside if doors were left open.
The Tugu Indah neighborhood is located right by the Ciliwung River, home to many fruit trees such as mango, rambutan and guava. Those are usually enough to satisfy the monkeys, but when the fruits run low they will venture into the housing area to see what other foods they can find.
Residents don’t seem to be too bothered by the primates as there have not been any reports of monkeys biting the locals. Some even told Tempo they sometimes lay bananas out for the monkeys in front of their house, which may seem cute but is probably a reason why the monkeys keep returning.
Another longtime resident of the neighborhood, M Anga, said there used to be more wild monkeys but it seemed like their numbers had shrunk in recent years, from 30 down to about 10.
The chairman of the Yayasan Sahabat Ciliwung (Friends of the Ciliwung River Foundation) Al Ramdani Hidayat, said there were definitely some monkeys living in the area around the river, but not enough that humans had to worry. He said that the reason they existed in the area was because humans had converted their natural territories into housing areas.
Hopefully the humans and monkeys of Tugu Indah will continue to be able to live in peace and can avoid any sort of Planet of the Ape type scenarios.
