It’s a new year and a new monkey season! The Snow Monkey Park is now completely covered by snow.
As you can see by the photo directly below, the snow is not only in the park, but also on the trail to the park. If it is a very cold day the path could be completely frozen over and thus slippery, so please prepare yourself with some crampons or good walking or snow boots. There is a rental snow boots service and crampons sale at the Snow Monkey Resorts Info & Gift Shop, located right before the trail entrance to the monkey park.
Once you get to the park the below site is what awaits you. The monkeys are looking for food on the ground but try to stay as far away from the ice-cold river as possible.
Next to the river you’ll find the hot spring. Monkeys are lounging in the pool, escaping the cold weather.
The older monkeys are usually just sitting still, enjoying the warmth. The younger monkeys on the other hand, tend to jump and splash around.
Sometimes you have the fortune of seeing a site such as below. This monkey’s mother went into the pool and the young monkey, not quite sure that he wanted to get in there, just jumped on his mother’s head to keep from getting wet.
If you’d like to see the snow monkeys in real life, you can find more information on the park here.
If you like to see more of Nagano Prefecture in accompaniment of a guide, please see here for tours!
