For your information, these photos were taken with the purple-faced leaf monkeys (or purple-faced langurs) around 60-100' away from me and my camera, so while they may not be the best photos in the world, they're pretty good for the camera and distance.
We have – at a minimum – four neighborhood monkeys. I know this because I've seen four together at one time. They travel the power-line superhighway and stop for snacks at various trees and bamboos. They love eating flowers.
But going by evidence revealed today, we might now have five. 🙂 Evidence being the tiniest monkey with a short tail. He/she is new. 🙂 And he/she is spritely, flitting and hopping up and down branches with ease while the fat momma monkey (yeah, I don't really know it's the mommy monkey, but go with it ;)) makes the branches heave to and fro with huge shakes.
Some days, they make a lot of noise, a howl that sounds kind of like "Whooo! Whoooo! Whooo!", and sometimes they wander around via trees and power lines, visiting various houses and flower patches in the neighborhood.
At any rate, they sure can be entertaining to someone like me, who, prior to coming to Sri Lanka, had never seen a monkey outside of a zoo.
People here? They look at me funny when I watch or photograph the monkeys. 😀
*nods* Yeah, I'm fine with that. 😀 They tend to look at me funny about a lot of things. 😀
If you don’t mind me asking, where in Colombo do you live?
I think they’re wonderful, Laurie. THANK YOU!
Great photos, Laurie!
e4c5, I could tell ya, but then I’d have to kill ya. 😉 We live outside Colombo, actually, but since it’s the nearest major city, it’s what I use for orientation for people who aren’t familiar with the country. 🙂
Virginia, you’re welcome. 🙂 I have more…
Thanks, Lynn and Virginia, for the compliments. 🙂 It’s the best I can do with the non-DSLR 2-year-old camera that I have. 🙂
OOOOhhhhh I love Monkeys! Planning to lure some into my garden when we move to Malaysia next year!
Where in Malaysia are you planning to live? And welcome to my blog. 🙂
Hello.
My partner Jean and I are planning to visit Sri Lanka between mid-January and late February (2014). Where is a good place to go to see the purple-faced leaf monkey?
Thanks.
David.
Hi David! You could try Yala National Park or Wilpattu National Park. These monkeys have been sighted in both. The benefit of the national parks are that you'll also see many other types of wildlife. You can see a list of the national parks in Sri Lanka here.
In places like my neighborhood, it's rather hit or miss, more miss, in terms of whether or not you'll see the monkeys on any given day. They wander around and visit my neighborhood when they feel like it, and of course there's no way to predict when that might be.