Shaded Walkway on the Western Steps of Huangshan 黄山
We had no idea where we are an how much further we needed to walk. We were just trying to put one foot in front of the other while not losing our balance. By now, it was pretty obvious that we were already way down the mountain, it was just a question of how much further we needed to walk. There were more and more trees here, although it wasn’t really needed since I would have preferred the sun right now to warm us up. But I didn’t realize that the trees were also the home of wildlife on Huangshan.
Macaque in the Way in Huangshan 黄山
Directly on our path down the mountain was a macaque. From my experience in Mount Emei in Sichuan, the primates are used to humans and know they are a source of food. Great care must be taken when in the company of these creatures. It would be best to hide any type of food from their sight and hearing as they can be known to be very aggressive. Snatching the food would be the safest thing they could probably do, however they are also known to attack humans in certain instances. We grabbed a stick, probably left by other travelers, to help ward off the macaque in case it gets too aggressive, which it fortunately didn’t. The four of us eyed it warily before making sure that it didn’t follow us. It seems to be basing its operations in that small area so visitors be warned.
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