Monkey Beach

This guide to Monkey Beach in Penang Island starts with the boatmen of Batu Ferringhi selling tickets to an island that does not exist, and follows the two-hour coastal walk or short boat ride to a curve of white sand tucked inside one of the world's smallest national parks, gazetted in 2003. It traces the surprising biodiversity packed into that small boundary, from mangrove to dipterocarp forest, and the long-tailed macaques that watch the beach from the treeline. A good listening spot is the shaded trailhead before the sand comes into view.