Fruit trees are being planted to prevent food shortages for more than 1,000 monkeys living on Thaylar Giri Mawra Patta Mountain, a well-known pilgrimage site in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township, according to residents.

A total of 50 mango, jackfruit and palm trees, as well as perennial crops, were planted by local people under the leadership of the Mawra Myay Cleaning Association (Kyauktaw).

“We planted these plants with the desire to help the environment, by providing good shade and greenery for the pilgrims, and so that there is no shortage of food for the monkeys here,” said U Hla Saw Khaing (Ponnarmyay), chairman of the Mawra Myay Cleaning Association.

More than 50 fruit trees and 900 varieties of flowers have already been planted along the Kyauktaw mountain road, and they intend to plant more next year, he told DMG.

In recent years, pilgrimages to the site have dwindled amid the Covid-19 pandemic and fighting between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army (AA). Pilgrims who could once be counted on to offer food and water are much fewer in number these days, prompting hungry monkeys to make their way down the mountain to beg for food from passers-by on the Kisspanadi Bridge, which spans the Kaladan River.

“I think there are at least a thousand monkeys [in the vicinity of Kyauktaw Mountain Pagoda],” said U Kyaw Kyaw, secretary of the pagoda’s board of trustees. “Donors who came on pilgrimages urged us to build a large orchard on this mountain so that there would be no shortage of food and water for the monkeys, and we plan to plant more fruit trees next year.”