Yodfat Monkey Forest is an amusement park located in Northern Israel. It is a fun attraction for kids, but it has one downside. Let’s begin exploring!
Notes:
- Do not confuse between Monkey Forest in Yodfat (this place) and Monkey Park at Ben Shemen.
- If you want to find additional info about animals and wildlife, check out Zoos and Aquariums in Israel.
Table Of Contents
Map
Yodfat is located in the Lower Galilee, south of Carmiel.
Map of the area:
Here is the site plan of the park that we received at the entrance.
As you can see, the site is not vast, and depending on your speed or the speed of your children, it will take 2-4 hours to complete this round route.
Note: the path is not convenient for baby strollers, so bring a baby carrier with you.
Opening Hours
Sunday – Thursday: 10:00-16:00
Friday: 9:00-15:00
Saturday / Holiday: 9:00-16:00
Note: tickets are available up to one hour before closure.
Entrance Fee
Sunday – Friday: Adult – 49 NIS, Student/Misgav resident – 44 NIS, Senior citizen – 39 NIS.
Saturday/Holiday: Adult – 59 NIS, Student/Misgav resident – 53 NIS, Senior citizen – 47 NIS.
Notes:
- Everyone aged 2 and above has to purchase a ticket.
- You can buy tickets at the official site with a small discount.
- Opening hours and ticket prices were updated in February 2021. In any case, recheck the official site before visiting.
Coupons
As I mentioned in the beginning, Yodfat Monkey Forest has one downside, which is the entrance fee. To reduce costs, you can use online coupons. For example, cpnclub.co.il coupon offers weekday tickets for 39 NIS (instead of 49 NIS). At zebratix.com, you can purchase the weekday ticket for 38 NIS and the 45 NIS Saturday ticket. If you are a member of the teacher’s association, then check this offer.
About
The Monkey Forest was established as a petting zoo for children and families in the early 1970s. In 1990, we became a well-known destination for education and tourism. As an educational experience, the children of the area were responsible for the maintenance, care, and husbandry of the animals.
Our goal has always been to offer people a close encounter with animals and nature with the vision of teaching the importance of having compassion, love, and respect for all animals, nature, and each other.
Our goal is to have our visitors leave us with the understanding that all animals, big and small, are an integral and essential part of every person’s life. Over the years, The Monkey Forest has grown, but we still stand by our values of giving the animals and nature the highest level of care. Our mission of educating the public on compassion, love, and respect for nature and animals has grown even greater!
We invite you to come to visit us and walk through our scenic forest trails, meet the animals living in the forest, enjoy a picnic at one of the many picnic tables scattered in the woods and enjoy a day while making sure that nature and animals of the park, feel safe, secure and at harmony with our visitors.
On arrival, we request that all people read and follow the rules written on the instruction sheet given at the park entrance.
Please make sure that all the people entering with you, including children, know the rules.
What Makes This Place Unique?
One of the things that make us unique is that we do allow people to bring food and put it on the ground for the animals, but only healthy foods that are listed below, No exceptions!
We do not allow the feeding of any processed foods, sweets, salted snacks, or desserts, No exceptions!
If you plan on bringing food to feed to the animals, please only bring plain whole bread, washed fruits and vegetables, and natural unsweetened and unsalted dried fruits and nuts.
We also offer a healthy choice of foods to purchase at the park. (Please note that the feeding rules are subject to change, depending on different factors on any given day.)
We really look forward to your visit!
Source of both quotes: official site
At Monkey Forest
In the beginning, 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. It and other signs imply that the targeted audience is families with young children. But it is not comfortable to use baby strollers, thus consider taking baby carriers. Also, since it is a forest, bring comfortable shoes.
We started in the central courtyard. There is a cafeteria, a small duck pond, and cages with parrots.
Peacock Breeding Season
When we entered, it was explained that now it is peacock breeding season. Thus, it is not advisable to come close to them since they can attack.
They were not aggressive towards us (they were running after chickens), and each male peacock showed us his beautiful tail.
Using this opportunity, I made a photo session for one of the peacocks. And here it is:
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 the wind started to blow stronger, and a male peacock with an open tail struggled to remain on his feet (the tail served as a ship’s sail).
Male peacocks are wandering by themselves, and the babies run after their mothers.
Squirrel Monkeys
Squirrel monkeys are New World monkeys of the genus Saimiri. Saimiri is the only genus in the subfamily Saimirinae. The name of the genus is of Tupi origin (sai-mirim or gai-mbirin < sai ‘monkey’ and mirim ‘small’) and was also used as an English name by early researchers.
Squirrel monkeys live in the tropical forests of Central and South America in the canopy layer. Most species have parapatric or allopatric ranges in the Amazon, while S. oerstedii is found disjunctly in Costa Rica and Panama.
Source: Wikipedia
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:
And here are several other residents of the Monkey Forest:
Similar Attractions
If you want to see Squirrel Monkeys, you can also find them at Monkey Park at Ben Shemen and Hay Park in Kiryat Motzkin. Another splendid animal-related attraction is Gan Garoo, which is an Australian Park in Nir David.
For additional similar attractions, check out Zoos and Aquariums in Israel. You can also browse the map at the top of this post for nearby attractions.
Summary
Overall, Yodfat Monkey Forest is a lovely place, and you can easily spend several hours with your children there. The only downside is the entrance fee. But you can decrease it using discounts. See the coupons section above.
Have you ever been to Monkey Forest In Yodfat? Tell us about your experience in the comments below.
That’s all for today, and I’ll see you in future travels!
Stay Tuned!
Additional Resources
Here are several resources that I created to help travelers:- Israel Trip Planner is the page that will help you to create your perfect travel route.
- National Parks And Nature Reserves page lists and put all national parks on the map. There is also a top list, information about ticket types and campsites.
- If you are looking for things to do, here are the pages for Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Sea Of Galilee, and Makhtesh Ramon.
- Wondering what events are there in Israel? Here is the Events And Festivals By Season guide.
