Learning through travel - Wild Monkeys in Kurobe

I have heard of wild Japanese macaque monkeys in Jigokudani (Nagano), Shimokita (Aomori) and Arashiyama (Kyoto), among other places, and have seen them for myself in Nikko (Tochigi). But I never knew that you can see wild Japanese macaque monkeys in Kurobe (Toyama), until I saw one (pictured) with my own two eyes, up close and personal, on a visit to the Kurobe gorge last week.

An Internet search suggests that you can only occasionally see them in Kurobe, so I feel particularly lucky that we got to see this guy. But, contrary to what the 'Internet' says, they must be relatively common, because there were signs up in various places in the gorge saying not to feed the monkeys and not to get too close to them.

It had been a while since I last saw a macaque in the wild, so when this lad started walking towards us, I wasn't taking any chances and we retreated until he went on his merry way into the forest. Once we were sure he was gone, we continued on our merry way too!