Nozawa Snow Monkeys (Ansel)

Last week, after a few days of skiing, we took a mid day tour to visit the Japanese macaque monkeys at the Jigokudani Snow Monkey Park. We took a bus from the town of Nozawa Onsen. The ride was roughly an hour long. I practiced Duolingo on the bus to entertain myself. I am learning how to speak German. 

When we arrived at the snow monkey park we stepped off the bus and headed to the trail. The trail was really beautiful through the trees. 

In some parts it was very muddy and icy. I was glad we had snowboots on. We walked for about 20 minutes. At the end of the trail, we walked up some stairs and saw our first monkey sitting down the hill on a rock. It had a thick fur coat and a red face. It climbed onto a slab of rock and was sitting there silently watching us. From then on, it rained monkeys. We saw monkeys who were big, small, loud and quiet. 

We checked in to the park using tickets that our bus driver had given us, then continued on the trail. We first walked up the hillside and saw a monkey sitting very close to us on the railing. We continued on the trail which sloped downward to a bridge with a view of the river on one side, and a hot spring pool on the other. We walked toward the hot spring pool first and saw monkeys taking a bath and cleaning each other in the water. Some were chilling out in the water staring at us, others were drinking the water, and more were cleaning each other, combing through their hair with quick fingers. 

Next we walked over to the river and saw a group of baby monkeys playing. It was so adorable!  Thoe only problem was that we all got pretty cold standing around in the snow.

Overall, I think if you take a trip to Nozawa Onsen, you should definitely go and see the monkeys because they're so cute and entertaining.  It's also a site that you won't find in other parts of the world - wild monkeys bathing with each other in a natural hot spring!