This article is about the encounters I had with monkeys that I met in the parks in Singapore.

I first encountered wild monkeys in Singapore Woodlands Waterfront Park. I saw them there at least four times, a few years ago. They were very polite and well-behaved. I enjoyed observing them playing, chasing each other, flying around, going up and down the trees and they sometimes even tried to come remarkably close to me, but I backed off and they respected my space as I respected theirs.

One time, this playful little monkey jumped and piggyback onto my cloth bag maybe because it smelled food and wanted to investigate further. But I pushed it off my bag and scolded it and it seems to understand and as an apology, it did an action like what a cat or dog will do when it wants you to caress and cuddle it. It rolled on the ground and made funny faces at me and did not bother me further.

One thing I like about the monkeys are that if you hide your food and drinks in your backpack, they usually do not bother you. They do not mind you taking their photographs or video recording them as long as you are not near monkey mothers with newly born monkeys holding onto their bellies.

Please note that you may incur a fine for feeding wild animals. By feeding them, you made them dependent on humans for food, instead of hunting for food suitable for their diets.

Please note that if you know you are going to encounter monkeys, make sure that you hide your food and drinks, plastic bags, and bottles inside your backpack in order not to get unwanted attention from the monkeys.

In 2024, I decided to revisit our monkeys at Woodlands Waterfront Park. Unfortunately, I did not see any monkeys even though I visited that park and Admiralty Park at least 3times. But for the first time, I saw a snake in Singapore! It was sliding to cross the pedestrian path within the Admiralty Park.

I again visited Woodlands Waterfront Park in 2025, this time I was lucky, and the monkeys were right after the entrance, as if gathering there to welcome me to their home!

Woodlands Waterfront Park is within walking distance of Woodlands North MRT station. Woodlands Waterfront Park is worth visiting as you can look across the waters to see Johor Bahru, Johor State, Malaysia. From the park, you can see the Causeway Bridge linking Singapore to Johor Bahru, Johor State, Malaysia. and the RTS Link, which is the cross-border Rapid Transit System (light rail) between Malaysia and Singapore. It is supposed to replace the KTM train line that currently does the job.

I visited The Botanic Gardens and Sentosa many times. But I found no traces of the monkeys. There are however peacocks in Sentosa especially around Madame Tussauds Singapore, which is at Imbiah Lookout in Sentosa. I also saw monitor lizards in the Botanic Gardens.

According to NParks Singapore, there are around 2000 long-tailed macaques in Singapore in 2012.

I met a fellow explorer the last time I went to Woodlands Waterfront Park. He told me that the mischievous monkeys are on Corney Island.

To access Corney Island, you can take the MRT to Punggol Station. Get out at Exit A and walk into Waterwaypoint Mall: The Broadwalk. Go straight down to B1 and straight out of the mall into The Punggol Promenade. Turn right and walk alongside the Punggol Waterway. Follow signs to Corney Island. Please note that Corney Island's opening hours are from 7 am to 7 pm. Here you get to look across the waters to see Pulau Ubin, the sea, the big ships, and Malaysia.

At around 5 pm, I ventured into Coney Island full of hope. I kept asking fellow park visitors whether they had seen any monkeys today and to my disappointment, the answer was always: "Not today". Hungry, I ate the Old Chang Kee snacks I bought from Waterwaypoint Mall.

I managed to locate a lone squirrel and was going to take its photo, but it shied away from the fame and limelight. Disappointed, I left Coney Island thinking that the animals must be practising a healthy lifestyle. Sleep early and wake up early.

While walking back to Waterwaypoint Mall, I saw in front of me, the back of a strange cat with an exceedingly long tail. I was fortunately mistaken. The "cat" turns out to be a long-tailed macaque monkey! It was not just one long-tailed macaque monkey but a large troop of long-tailed macaque monkeys!

They were scratching each other, swinging from trees, chasing each other, and putting up the greatest show on earth at least for me. They also tried to come near me, but I told them that I do not have food with me, and they seemed to understand and kept their distance.

Later when I visited Pulau Ubin, I saw the luckiest monkeys in Singapore as they get to eat fruits such as coconuts and even durians, the king of fruits! They can also catch crabs.

If you cannot be bother to hide your food and bottles, then they take this as a consent to share your food with them.

When I visited the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, I see more mischievous Long-tailed macaque monkeys.

I was surprised to encounter a monkey even at Labrador Park. It was feasting on leftover food that it found in the garbage bin.

I guess I am lucky as I had positive experiences with the wild monkeys as I respected them and they respected me as well and there was nothing to cause disrespect.