NidalM Photography / Blog / Travelography / Mountain Monkeys of Ta’if

Mountain Monkeys of Ta’if

Posted by NidalM on Aug 1st, 2009 | 16 comments

This one is a little weird. To residents of Saudi Arabia, it’s no secret that going down the road from Ta’if to Makkah, right after the first bend, one encounters a tribe of Mountain monkeys. These little critters sit upon the rocks beside the highway, staring at cars that wizz past. More often than not, however, the people will stop, park next to the road, and throw food at the animals. It would appear that the monkeys don’t really do any foraging of their own. What survival skills previous generations might have known they’ve forgotten. Devolution… Darwin would be proud!!

1/800s @ 200mm (Canon 70-200mm), f/5 ISO100

Om nom nom nom nom… fruits out of a plastic box… just like the olden times.

1/200s @ 70mm (Sigma 24-70mm), f/11 ISO100

Monkeys come in all shapes and sizes…. and flavors… mmmmm monkey.

1/400s @ 200mm (Canon 70-200mm), f/7.1 ISO100

It’s not that here isn’t any food around… Theres plenty of plantlife around. These guys just like being freeloaders..! But I’m not going to judge. Being brown, I can’t turn down free food myself ;P

1/800s @ 93mm (Canon 70-200mm), f/6.3 ISO100

The alpha male. King of the hill. This man (ok, not really ‘man’ man) gets his pick of the choicest food, and all the women. Lucky monkey

Single Exposure HDR, 1/500s @ 93mm (Canon 70-200mm), f/8 ISO100

See, the alpha male summed up in one picture. Food, Women… and what appears to be an unhealthy dose of anger.

1/1000s @ 60mm (Canon 70-200mm), f/5 ISO100

This is what Lord of the Rings would look like if it were re-enacted by primates. I think I see Frodomonkey.

1/800s @ 60mm (Canon 70-200mm), f/5 ISO100

Frodomonkey crosses the river of …err asphalt in his epic quest to save Ta’if.

Single Exposure HDR, 1/160s @ 138mm (Canon 70-200mm), f/6.3 ISO100

While the wretched gollummonkey watches from a distance, for an opening to reclaim the ring of… ahh I don’t know.. I think I took the analogy too far!

Single Exposure HDR, 1/640s @ 200mm (Canon 70-200mm), f/5 ISO100

There’s a healthy dose of cuteness there too..!

1/250s @ 200mm (Canon 70-200mm), f/8 ISO100

Though you probably don’t want to cross these working moms. That expression on her face looks deadly.

1/500s @ 70mm (Canon 70-200mm), f/8 ISO100

Sometimes, some people find it amusing to emulate the tribe of monkeys. Please refrain from throwing food at them if they do. They won’t eat it and probably will get very annoyed…

Well that’s all I’m going to say about them monkeys! We’ll try to get a little bit more serious in the next post (knowing me, don’t count on it though).

Tags: baboon, monkey, photohike1_saudi, ta'if, wildlife

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Ali Iftikhar

Nice work… Monkeyz are still in good shape.. They get angery at times, but normally they are fine
http://www.thespills.wordpress.com Qurrat

Bandaarr
http://www.interruptingmydreams.wordpress.com Rabia

Great pictures!! Your comments made me CRACK UP!!! The “Lord of the Rings” analogy was too funny!!
SkyBlueSeaBlue

wow! monkeys are entertaining, but i didn’t know, they were THIS entertaining.
http://hongag6.windowslive.com honga

hahahaha I love your captions!
NidalM

Thanks guys

SkyBlue, I guess you can say my love of monkeys borders on disturbing. ;P
NidalM

Rabia, I think you will find that any epic movie, once re-enacted by monkeys becomes utterly hilarious. It is the gift of monkeys to us humans ;P
http://arooj.wordpress.com Arooj

“Monkeys come in all shapes and sizes…. and flavors… mmmmm monkey. ”

LOL you are such a riot!
NidalM

Don’t tell me you’ve never tried monkey!
http://serai.strategicsynapse.com/2009/08/baboons-in-saudi-arabia/ Baboons in Saudi Arabia | KhanSerai

[...] There are some great pictures at NidalM’s blog [...]
http://susiesbigadventure.blogspot.com/ Susie of Arabia

I wish I could have gotten out of the car to take photos of the baboons when we were in Taif! You've got some fantastic images here! Well done.
http://susiesbigadventure.blogspot.com/ Susie of Arabia

I wish I could have gotten out of the car to take photos of the baboons when we were in Taif! You've got some fantastic images here! Well done.
http://www.nidalm.com/blog/ NidalM

Thanks Susie.

Where the monkeys hang out is right behind a Ta'if police station (there's a mean joke in there somewhere but I don't have the heart to make it). Sometimes they'll come down and detain people with cameras so maybe it's not all bad that you didn't come out of the car.
http://www.nidalm.com/blog/ NidalM

Thanks Susie.

Where the monkeys hang out is right behind a Ta'if police station (there's a mean joke in there somewhere but I don't have the heart to make it). Sometimes they'll come down and detain people with cameras so maybe it's not all bad that you didn't come out of the car.
http://www.nidalm.com/blog/ NidalM

Thanks Susie.

Where the monkeys hang out is right behind a Ta'if police station (there's a mean joke in there somewhere but I don't have the heart to make it). Sometimes they'll come down and detain people with cameras so maybe it's not all bad that you didn't come out of the car.
http://www.nidalm.com/blog/ NidalM

Thanks Susie.

Where the monkeys hang out is right behind a Ta'if police station (there's a mean joke in there somewhere but I don't have the heart to make it). Sometimes they'll come down and detain people with cameras so maybe it's not all bad that you didn't come out of the car.