MOUNTAIN MONKEYS

I was working at the land yesterday and could hear some cracking sounds somewhere in the jungle close to the mountain face. I thought it may just be a local wandering around in the bush looking for something to eat as they often go into the jungle and come out with all types of goodies.. Bugs, snakes and scorpions etc ... The sounds repeated so I paid closer attention and realized that they were coming from further up the rock face of the mountain and that they were actually the sound of tree branches breaking. I could see the trees moving and finally spotted the culprits . There was a troop of 40 or so monkeys moving across the mountain face . Very cool to see them swinging from tree to tree and almost free falling at times. It was amazing how quickly they came down to within 50 or so meters of resort level from what i would guess was maybe 200 meters up when i first spotted them . I went back to the truck to get my camera but they were long gone by the time I got back.

I mentioned to Yam our night security man that i saw many LING [thai for monkeys ] and he explained that he has occasionally seen them come down to drink at our stock ponds. I will make sure there are binoculars on hand at the Mountain Beach Bar so that customers can spot the occasional monkey if they are lucky .

We also have an increasing number of water birds now that the stock ponds are finished . I saw a large fish hawk of some kind hovering above the resort the other day which didnt thrill me as i can imagine him scooping up a $200 fish from one of the ponds for lunch :)..

We have tried to keep as many trees as possible to attract as much of the local wild life as possible and are also researching which plants and foliage attract the most birds and butteflies.