There is nothing like a relax by the pool while on holiday, but one man thought his life “was going to end” after a terrifying encounter recently.
The British tourist, named Kane Smith, was enjoying a cool off in a pool in Thailand when the incident happened. He was gobsmacked as a mob of monkeys joined him by the water. In a viral clip, shared on TikTok, Kane can be seen filming himself “living the dream” before he suddenly notices something and lets out a scream.
Captioning the video, Kane said: “POV: One minute you’re living the dream in Thailand…the next you’re in a nightmare.”
Kane turns the camera and shows a red-faced monkey climbing over the sun loungers towards him. While these monkeys are a common site in the country, the animals can be dangerous if they are looking for food or feel threatened.
As the macque runs towards him, the worried tourist said: “Oh my f****ing God. Why is it doing that? My God…oh my f****ing God.” But suddenly, another monkey joins, and then a large group joins. “Oh my God there’s a whole family,” Kane screams as he even spotted a baby monkey among the group.
The monkeys walk around the edges of the pool, drink the water and chill. Kane finally managed to get out the pool, but things took a turn for the worse when two monkeys began chasing him down some stairs.
The scared tourist make a quick get away from the intimidating monkeys who left him alone once he exited the area. Kane said: “Honestly the scariest moment of my life. I apologise for all the swearing.. kinda thought my life was about to end. Started off with one monkey and then a full gang suddenly appeared.”
One individual commented on the video clip, which has raked in over 15 million views, and said: “This is a cinematic masterpiece. I demand it wins awards. The drama. The never ending monkeys. The giant one. The running. This is glorious.”
One other wrote: “Why did you stay in there so long? I would’ve been well gone.” Another added: “Not the massive one turning up at the end my soul would have left my body.”
** Warning: the video below includes strong language **
One other said: “Monkeys are strong, you weren’t overreacting at all. They could have really hurt you if they wanted.” “That was actually terrifying,” another agreed.
“No, because that was actually terrifying, I’d never recover,” agreed one other. “I actually don’t know how you got away from that alive,” commented another.
Sharing an update, Kane said: “I feel like there is so much that I need to say…obviously the main thing is that I am OK. A lot of people were worried about that. And the second one, people saying ‘oh why did you stay in the pool that long?’ – you don’t understand that when I was in the pool, my only exit was where all the monkeys were coming from.
“When that one monkey came I wanted to leave the pool and get help, but all the other monkeys were coming from that direction.” It is not know what part of Thailand Kane encountered this.
Menacing monkey problem in Thailand
The government in Thailand are struggling to control monkeys; populations are growing and they are becoming more aggressive. Last year, Thai police were filmed last year carrying slingshots and tranquiliser guns to combat ‘dangerous’ rampaging monkey gangs terrorising the town of Lopburi.
The macaques of Lopburi have been around for decades – and locals even hold an annual festival to honour them – but recently there has been some dangerous encounters with locals and visitors, and the menacing monkeys have taken over the town. It has forced some businesses to shut and drawn tourists away as the monkeys are said to be jumping on cars and stealing food.
Thai police have now been given wooden catapults to use against the macaques.