Jatiluhur’s Village of Monkey Guardians

Kompas/Dedi Muhtadi

Hidayat, the head of Jatimekar village in Jatiluhur district, Purwakarta regency, West Java, proudly stands next to the monkey statue that is seen as a tourism icon for kera (monkey) village in Jatiluhur. Kera village was built by the Purwakarta regency administration as part of an effort to protect the habitat of wild animals around the Jatiluhur reservoir.

Groups of wild monkeys often descend from the forests around Mount Sanggabuana (1,201 meters above sea level) to the hills near Jatiluhur Reservoir in Purwakarta regency, West Java.

The local government has hired a group of people as guards, locally called bandega,to protect the creatures. For some residents in Jatimekar village, in the regency’s Jatiluhur subdistrict, the “gangs” of wild monkeys have caused a disturbance since the drought of 2011. The residents’ gardens were often destroyed, their chicken eggs were stolen.