Ao Manao Beach - home of the endangered Dusky Monkeys
Ao Manao Beach
This beach is not as simple to reach because it’s part of the Wing 5 Military Airbase. To be honest it looks a lot more like a closed resort, rather than a military camp. They have a golf course, massive beach line, beach bars and restaurants and even some water activities like rafts, banana boats etc. The name of the place is pretty interesting as well - if my Thai translation is right it means 'I want lemon'(just another fun fact).
Before we went to the beach though we first wanted to see these rare Dusky Monkeys our American friend kept talking about. We free roamed a bit and then decided to ask before wandering too far. Turns out the monkeys were on the opposite side of where we were so we hopped on the car, went through another barrier guarded by the military and got to this place that was the home of these cute animals.
Dusky monkeys are an endangered species and quite rare to see. Here it seemed they had a fairly safe environment. Not many people knew or were interested to come here, so it was pretty quiet for them. There were 2-3 other people when we arrived but they were just leaving. After that it was only us and the monkeys.
They seemed pretty used to humans. The people before us had a bucket of fruits and veggies they were feeding them. I guess it's natural for them to get food from humans since they didn't move from these set of trees here.
These monkeys were so much calmer and nicer than the macaques at the temple. They also had 2 babies. The babies of the dusk monkeys are yellow/orange in color until they grow up so it’s quite easy to spot them amongst the rest.
These next two photos I'm quite proud of. The little baby kept posing for me and the framing on these two was just perfect.
These babies were a lot more playful than the macaque ones that just hang on to their moms. They swung on other monkey's tails, roamed around on their own and seemed quite curious.
I also found this one sleeping like that. I wonder do they ever fall while sleeping like that.
We spent quite some time here with the monkeys, taking pictures. After awhile though it was time to go get something to eat at the beach and enjoy some beach time.
These are quite common here in Thailand. People actually dislike them a lot and they often cross through our front yard in Bangkok. We found this one on the way to the beach so decided to snap some photos.
Once we arrived at the beach we got ourselves a table under the shades of the trees and ordered some Thai food. The tables, chairs and everything is quite old. It reminded me of Hua Hin in this regard, but only there aren't any horses pooping in the water and the beach is much much nicer.
These inflatable belts were free to use from anyone. A lot of people were taking them and floating around in the sea.
This definitelly is the beach that I've seen the most Thai people in. Not only that but it was midday and plenty were enjoying the water. That is usually not the case anywhere else I've been to.
These were the water rafts and banana boats. The guys had a lot of work on that day because there was always some group using them.
To be honest we did get on a raft as well. I didn't really want to because my back hurts and I knew it was gonna be a bad idea. Speed boats is what caused the pain in the first place. After a lot of convinsing I said 'okay let's do it'. Worst idea I've had all weekend. Because I am the heaviest I had to stay up front with absolutely no support for my back which made the experience even worse. Midway through I couldn't bare the pain no more and decided I'll just jump out and swim towards the shore.. or float. I picked a spot somewhat near where our stuff were and abandoned ship. Obviously injured myself from the impact with the water as well, because when you jump our at high speed the water feels like concrete.
I didn't know I had this until people all around started asking me what happened to me. I didn't feel any pain or anything until the next day so I was quite confused. It was the vest that I was wearing that left the mark when I fell into the water. Looked scarier than it was.
The beach is so huge and you can usually go anywhere on it. The middle part which is quite big still is where the small bars and restaurants are so that's where the most people stay. There were plenty of people on the far sides as well though, just laying bellow the trees and enjoying more of nature.
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Thank you so much!
Those monkeys are so cute, I didn´t even know this species. Good to know they have this place where they are not disturbed by people too much. Btw what is that lizard? Are they big? Andy why the locals don´t like them? Lizards are awesome :) Anyway, top notch piece as always!
Thanks! The lizard is a Monitor lizard - they are the second largest lizards after the Comodo dragons. I believe they can grow up to 2-3 metres. The locals dislike them because they are considered pest - they eat small farm animals, and aren't very clean because they inhabit canalization etc., so they bring a bunch of diseases with them. Even the thai word for them is used as a big insult - if you call someone that. Thai people also believe that they bring bad luck and missfortune.
I like lizards too - these are like mini dinosaurs. But they do bite so I stay away with my camera and just snap photos. ^^
Ah, thanks for the explanation, it makes sense now but I guess I would still like them :) As you say, some reptiles do look like miniature dinosaurs, which is so cool :) When living in Mexico, I totally fell in love with the iguanas who also resemble dinosaurs but these guys are actually harmless. They are herbivores and usually don´t care about the humans at all, they are super relaxed :D You can see that in these photos that I took there :) Such cuties.
Ah I like Iguanas as well. They are indeed harmless though, unlike monitors. Our old dobermann got bitten by monitor lizards before and they sometimes come out of the nearby cannal and leave fish bones around the yard. Our smallest dog almost choked on a massive sharp fish bone a month ago. Good thing I saw her in time. I don't mind when I see them in parks but I don't want them as much in my front yard.
I see... Looks like these guys are real troublemakers :D
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I'm totally in love with the baby monkeys!! They look so curious and adorable!
They seemed genuinely interested in the camera. Looked straight at it quite often. ^^
Wow, this is so interesting,I will be at the beach when am financially buoyant with my family as well,I love the enjoyment and I will work till am able to afford it and experience it