Bali monkey attack: Sydney family’s nightmare trip after 12yo girl bitten on neck at Ubud

A celebration trip to Bali turned into a nightmare for a Sydney family after a 12-year-old girl was attacked and bitten by a monkey at one of the island’s most famous tourist hotspots.

Flavia McDonald booked a spur-of-the-moment Father’s Day trip to Indonesia earlier this month, and the family locked in a day outing to the Ubud Monkey Forest.

“I had been to Bali many times, but it was a place I had since hesitated about with kids because of Bali belly,” Ms McDonald told News.com.au.

“I thought maybe when (Lorena) was older … we could enjoy it more, but in August with so much rain around Sydney, my daughter had the idea of a sunny place for a holiday to give as a Father’s Day gift.”

After walking around the park for about 40 minutes, the McDonald’s sat down inside a large amphitheatre to view the monkeys.

“Heaps of people were sitting, so my husband and daughter sat there too,” Ms McDonald said.

“We could see monkeys, but none literally on or around people. But within one minute, a monkey jumped on my husband’s shoulders … and within seconds it went from his shoulder to my daughter’s.

“She was paralysed (in fear) and we kind of knew we couldn’t make any abrupt movements. So the monkey started pulling at her shirt, her pockets, looking in her top, and as I got close to her to shush it away, within five seconds, it just bit her on the neck.”

Guests are instructed to maintain a safe distance from the monkeys, engage in only supervised interactions, avoid direct eye contact and take care of children, which Ms McDonald claims they adhered.

“I looked down at her neck, and I just said, ‘Oh my god,’” she remembered. “(Lorena) thought it was a scratch… but then we saw the bite mark with blood… The whole thing was just so fast.”

After rushing to the park’s first aid station, Ms McDonald claims that staff dismissed concerns of rabies, saying the “monkeys were very clean” and instead washed the wound in soap and water.

“She was bleeding … and I was just thinking, this is not enough. I was exploding inside,” Ms McDonald said.

“All my research was saying this was very dangerous and that she needs to go to a clinic with the rabies vaccine.”

A trip to a nearby medical centre provided a much more serious reaction, and Lorena, who was still “in shock”, was treated with multiple injections, one into the top of the bite and one at the bottom.

“I have never seen her scream like the way she did in that hospital,” Ms McDonald said.

In addition to the vaccine shots, the teenager was prescribed “herpes virus B” medication and had to take six tablets a day for two weeks.

All of this before being presented with a $AU6200 medical bill, which the McDonald’s had to pay up front and reclaim via their traveller’s insurance.

“If I had read anything like this, anything similar, I would’ve had a different approach to going to the park,” Ms McDonald said.

“I would’ve been a little more aware that something like this can actually happen. It ruined the trip for us.”