Photo Huy Bunleng FB
Sihanoukville, Cambodia News: Many people who have spent their holidays in the seaside town of Sihanoukville will remember the cute (or aggravating) monkeys that live in the rocky area of bush between the water reservoir and the Independence Hotel, near Independence Beach. They would hang out on the roadside while people stopped to feed them bananas and take their photos. It was a local tourist attraction.
Well, their days are numbered. The Sihanoukville authorities signed an agreement on 5 February, 2019, to remove the troupe of monkeys from their home and relocate them to a happy holiday camp in Pursat.

The reason given for the eviction is that the monkeys on the tarmac are creating a nuisance for human car drivers, which hardly seems fair, since it was the humans who lured them on to the road in the first place with all those bananas. A more plausible reason for the monkey move is the development taking place around fresh water reservoir Boeung Prek Tup and the Independence Beach area, which will remove the monkeys' beachfront habitat, replacing it with highrise casino hotels and condominiums for tourists.
Time to move on. Sihanoukville's old residents have no place in the new Sihanoukville-Macau.

That's a shame. I enjoyed them.

Good riddance

They're vermin. There's a monkey temple near where my dad lives in Thailand and the same thing happens, loads of them hanging around the road alternatively getting fed and squished. The problem is when you feed them they breed and then you get a load of aggressive males trying to get a chomp out of you as they look for new territory. You need to keep them somewhere there are leopards.

I suspect the nice new holiday campmight be the nearest chinese restayrant. Monkey brains are apparently a delicacy eaten forma live monkey

It seems that the deed has been done. The macaque monkeys were removed from their Independence Beach habitat a few days ago, before the announcement by local authorities. They say here that there was a nuisance complaint from the nearby Independence Hotel. The monkeys are however regretted by the roadside vendors who were making a killing selling bananas and other snacks for monkeys and tourists.

Official regrets relocating monkeys
7 February 2019
Residents at Sihanoukville’s Independence Beach have raised concerns as to the possible effect on tourism following the relocation of “dozens” of macaque monkeys last week, with one tourism chief expressing regret over the move.

Locals and tourists said the sight of monkeys playing in trees near the beach has become a thing of the past, with one resident of Sihanoukville’s Commune 4, 45-year-old Chham Savuth, saying dozens of monkeys had been relocated.

“Last week, a group of people came to the area and caught dozens of monkeys. They were shot with tranquiliser guns. But they did not tell [the public] the reason for taking the monkeys away,” he said.

Oeur Vibol, the tourism office chief at the provincial tourism department in charge of coastal areas, expressed regret at the removal of the macaques.

“We very much regret that the monkeys were taken to another area … In the tourism industry monkeys are considered part of the tourism product. Their behaviour attracts many tourists to see them and take pictures,” he said.

Nen Chamroeun, the provincial director of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, on Tuesday issued a statement regarding the disappearance of the primates.

“Experts from Phnom Tamao Zoological Park came and took some monkeys away to maintain [road] safety and public order. The monkeys were released in a safe sanctuary in the Veal forestry community in Pursat province,” the statement said.

Socheat said the move followed a request from the owner of the Independence Beach Hotel, who claimed the monkeys disturbed his guests and destroyed hotel property.
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ ... ng-monkeys

Having driven all of the white monkeys out of Sihanoukville, it was the next logical step.

I spent time in Gibraltar and met a guy there who was a warden on the rock. Part of his job was culling rouge monkeys.
He’s go up early whilst it was shut and take out, usually big males, some of the little nasty fucks.

One day after he’d shot a few he was bringing them down with a helper and as he got to the road from the brush there was a family of tourists with two small kids.

There he is holding by the feet two monkeys whilst carrying a gun!
The two kids screamed and the mother held her hands on her mouth whilst trying to usher the kids away but they were rooted to the spot.
He stopped picked one of the monkeys up and said “It’s ok they are asleep” but didn’t noticed the monkeys tongue lopping out and it’s teeth bearing. Which made the kids cry more.

Anyway. Turned it it was a friend of one of the staff who sneaked them up for a “private tour”.

I would gladly watch a NatGeo pay per view documentary on the little fuckers waking up in a pursat forest, slowly realizing the free lunch days are over.

Sihanoukville's monkeys are having the last laugh. Not only are they still living in the same spot by Independence Hotel, despite attempts to relocate them out of the city, but they are still causing traffic jams because people will not stop feeding them.


Cambodia News, (Sihanoukville): Authorities call on residents and tourists who are passing by the Independence Hotel in Sihanoukville to join together to help keep the environment clean, not to throw rubbish or food on the side of the road.

According to Sihanoukville City Hall officials, in this case, there are a lot of monkeys, big and small, who come down to see the tourists and eat the fruits that they bring with them. This is encouraging the monkeys to come on to the road where they are creating a traffic hazard.


The local authorities in cooperation with the city cleaning department and the garbage collection company went to clean up the area.
Huy Bunleng
(Photos from city officials and photos from citizens)