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Mandala Wisata
Wenara Wana
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Newsletter |
| Dear Visitor, Over the long passage of time since Wenara Wana - more commonly known as the Padangtegal Monkey Forest - became 'open' to tourists, it has become one of the mainstays and 'must see' attractions of the Ubud tourism area. To date, the people of the surrounding community of the desa adat (customary village) of Padangtegal have made every effort necessary to enhance Wenara Wana as a tourism attraction - both internally and in collaboration with relevant institutions, such as Udayana University, the primate division in particular, which has done much research and provided specific guidance related to matters of the monkeys and their habitat in Wenara Wana. This was followed by the signing of an MOU with Udayana designating Wenara Wana as an object of general scientific research. Likewise, the community has cooperated with several foreign researchers who have regularly conducted surveys and research in Wenara Wana. This turn of events has accorded significant value to Wenara Wana, contributing to its recent development, not only as an object of tourism but as a place for scientific activity. From another perspective, since its very beginning, Wenara Wana has been an area that is held sacred, especially by the people of Desa Adat Padangtegal, as it is the location of Pura Dalem Agung Padangtegal (Padangtegal Great Temple of Death) -one of the khahyangan tiga or three main temples of the village. What is unique about Pura Dalem Agung Padangtegal, aside from the local belief that the monkeys there are an intrinsic part of the spiritual life of the temple, is that it is home to a relic, in the form of a Lingga Yoni (a phallus and womb symbol used in the worship of Shiva) that has been located in the bagian utama mandala or inner sanctum of the temple for many centuries and is revered as a sacred artifact. The existence of Wenara Wana as a spiritual and scientific sanctuary as well as a popular nature and cultural tourism destination demands that we continually improve the quality of our services, to consistently provide for the security and comfort of those who visit the area. To this end, a number of initiatives have been taken up to now, including: the arrangement of the area by terracing the land, planting trees, expanding the forest area and creating footpaths within the forest; bulding public facilities, renovating worship facilities, setting up the Wenara Wana management secretariat office and library; along with a series of promotional efforts, including the launching of the website, www.monkeyforestubud.com that will later double as a data center on Desa Adat Padangtegal and its potentials. Future plans include a first aid clinic for visitors and a village compost-processing facility whose products can be expected to meet fertilizer needs in the monkey forest area. With the current utilization of the monkey forest and existing income from visitors, we still face limitations in funding to support the continuous improvement of the quality and services of the area. In this connection, on behalf of the management, we would like to announce to our visitors and colleagues that as of December 1st 2007 we will be increasing the cost of visitors' entry tickets from Rp 10,000 to Rp 15,000 for adults and Rp 5,000 to Rp 7,500 for children. We have high hopes that this small increase will give us better financial capacity in the framework of upgrading our quality and services in the future. The existence of Ubud as a tourism area up to now has been inseparable from the existence of the Wenara Wana Monkey Forest Sanctuary, and this calls for cooperation by all parties concerned to continue to contribute, according to their abilities, to the ongoing maintenance and protection of the assets we share. We would also like to take this opportunity to convey our thanks to everyone who has assisted us up to now, and ask that in the future, you keep giving us your input/ suggestions, so that we can together keep improving the security and comfort of the monkey forest area. Ubud, 1 October 2007 Wenara Wana Promotion Division on behalf of Desa Adat Padangtegal |
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The Sacred
Monkey Forest
of Padangtegal is
owned by the village
of Padangtegal.
The Padangtegal
Wenara Wana
Foundation has
historically strived
to develop and
implement management objectives that will both maintain the sacred
integrity of the monkey forest and promote
the monkey forest as
a sacred site that is
open to visitors from
around the world.