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- Mar 7, 2024, 5:10pm
- ☁️ -1 °C
- Altitude: 901 m
- JapanNaganoHiraoJigokudani Monkey Park36°43’57” N 138°27’48” E
Day 7
March 7 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ -1 °C
SNOW MONKEY DAY!!
Today was the day that we trekked all the way from Tokyo to Nagano to visit the snow monkeys of Jigokudani national park! This was a day trip I have been literally dreaming about as this is what first attracted me to going to Japan. I know that may sound strange- you want to go all the way to Japan to see monkeys? But yes I did!! The monkeys live in the mountains and during winter they come down to the onsen hot springs to bathe and warm up to survive the very bitter winters of Japan and I have been desperate to see this!
The day started a little rocky when we bought the train tickets to get to Nagano as they were extremely expensive and very much over our budget for travel a day, but a small perk is that it was a bullet train which can get up to 200mph, and even with this speed it still takes 2 hours to get from Tokyo to Nagano! Once settled in we watched the skyscrapers zip past at top speed as we hurtled through the countryside which was a lot of fun. Once we crossed the border into Nagano the scenery very quickly became snowy and beautiful mountains covered the whole horizon looking like something out of a cgi screen, it’s definitely the most picturesque train journey I’ve ever taken!
Stepping off the train a bitter cold wind hit my face and I quickly pulled out my hat and gloves and zipped my coat up to my chin. From Nagano station we had to take a 45 minute bus and to secure the tickets we had to get them out of a vending machine! We piled onto the bus with only about 10 other people and after steadily winding our way up through the mountains the bus came to an abrupt halt and the driver said something in Japanese which I assumed was “you are here”. Clambering down I looked around the snowy outcrop and realised we were in the middle of nowhere, as I turned to ask the bus driver which direction to go he sped off back down the mountain and out of sight. Slightly disgruntled we began walking up the mountain road hoping we were headed in the right direction. After a few minutes we saw a big sign saying “monkey park this way 2km walk”. Feeling more confident about our direction we picked up the pace until we reached the entrance of the park. Entrance is a slight over exaggeration, it’s a small gift shop at the bottom of a steep trail upwards with an arrow pointing up. We began clambering up the trail and following it as it meandered up. After about 10 minutes it flattered out and the huffing and puffing and rosy red cheeks subsided a little. The problem with this trail is that the snow had become so packed that it was like pure ice. It was incredibly slippy and every step felt like I might go slip sliding back down to the base and have to start again. But this would probably be the least of our worries if we did slip as running parallel to us was a very sheer drop down the mountain that didn’t look very survivable! After just over an hour of gingerly following the trail upwards we reached the snow monkeys. Huddled in groups to keep the warm in and wallowing in the hot springs it is just how I had imagined!! The area was almost empty of other tourists which was very lucky as in peak season it is apparnelty heaving but we were just outside peak so I guess that really helped and we seemed to time it well as when we left a huge tour bus arrived with quite the crowd of people all heading up the see the monkeys.
Sitting near the hot springs I began to capture the snow monkeys scarlet faces and piercing hazel eyes. We watched them play together and saw mothers clinging to their babies to try keep them warm and of course, we saw many taking advantage of the natural hot springs looking more than content. After a while of just observing them and taking lots of pictures we felt like we had seen the monkeys in their full glory and I had lost feeling in my nose so we decided that it would be best to wind our way back down. Enjoying the scenic walk back we braved the ice death trap once more and timed it perfectly as a bus arrived just as we reached the bottom. We decided to head straight back to Tokyo as it was already 5pm and most things shut between 5-5.30pm so we hopped back on the bullet train and waved Nagano goodbye and started racing back across the country, we then finished off the evening with a glass of plum wine in our hostel bar which is DELICIOUS!Read more
Traveler WOW WOW WOW! Stunning photos of the monkeys. So enjoying your blogs x
Traveler This could be something out of national geographic!
Your trip is looking insane Kristyna! I hope that you are having one hell of a time! [Bruce]