Monkey Forest in Yodfat

Monkey forest in Yodfat (official site) is an amusement park located in Northern Israel and its main attraction, as the name suggests, is monkeys. I called it an amusement park since when you enter it, you feel like you’re in a village and not in a zoo. There are chickens, rabbits, peacocks and other animals running around free. This and other signs imply that targeted audience is families with young children.

Map of the area:

Standard entry fee was 30nis and most days (including Saturdays) the park is open 9 to 16.

Here is a map of the park:

Depending on your speed, to be more precise on the speed of your children, it will take 2-4 hours to complete this round route.

We started from the main courtyard. There is cafeteria, small duck pond and cages with parrots.

Parrots:

Turtle in the pond:

When we entered, it was explained that now it’s peacock breeding season. Thus, it’s not advisable to come close to them since they can attack.

They weren’t aggressive towards us (they were running after chickens), and each male peacock showed us his beautiful tail.
I never noticed before, but when they open their tail, from time to time they send a small vibration and the tail “dances”.
A funny thing occurred when wind started to blow stronger and male peacock with an open tail struggled to remain on his feet (the tail served as a ship’s sail).

Using this opportunity I made a book to one of the peacocks. And here it is:

Local residents:

Male peacocks are wondering by themselves, and the babies run after their mothers.

Baby peacock:

Most monkeys are inside their cages and you can see them only from outside. But as it comes to squirrel monkeys, you can enter into their cage. They can come quite close (2-3 meters). And here are several photos of them:

Overall, Monkey Forest in Yodfat is nice place and you can easily enjoy up to a half day with your children there.