Japanese Snow Monkey Park in Nagano
Our summer holiday continues with a trip to the Japanese snow monkey park at Jigokudani (literally translates to the Valley of Hell!!) in Nagano Prefecture.
Japanese snow monkey at Jigokudani in Nagano
Snow monkeys at play in “Hell Valley”
These two seemed quite interested in their own hands…
Little cuties 🙂
Something, somewhere must have gone very wrong as hell really seemed to have frozen over on our arrival in Nagano. The forecast was for daytime temperatures of around -8C and snow all day, and I don’t think that would have been far wrong.
One of the bigger fellas
The falling snow really made for some beautiful effects
Snow monkeys at play in “Hell Valley” jidokudani Nagano
The good thing about the freezing conditions of course was that the monkeys were very keen on spending time in the hot springs, and we spent a couple of hours watching and photographing their antics.
Enjoying a solitary soak in the hot tub!
If you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours
For those who can’t make it to see the monkeys in person, there is a webcam which displays either a live feed or just single shots from the webcam. Well worth keeping an eye on this site if you want to see what these guys are up to!
Some of the scenery on the way in. Jigokudani snow monkey park, Nagano
Some of the scenery on the way in. Jigokudani snow monkey park, Nagano
Some of the scenery on the way in. Jigokudani snow monkey park, Nagano
Entrance to the Jigokudani snow monkey park, Nagano
I shot the entire time with my 70-200mm and have to admit the snow and the freezing temperatures had me a little concerned from time to time but the camera and lens went really well. The hardest bit has been choosing my favourites! To that end I have also started an online library of my Japanese images. This is something I’ve been meaning to do for years, and now that I have finally made a start on it I will be regularly updating it. All my Japanese images are available either as digital files for your own use or as prints. You can contact me through the new site to make arrangements.
