A travel influencer had ‘one of the scariest encounters in her life’ as a group of angry monkeys chased her across a beach.

Taliya Maya, 24, was visiting the Phi Phi Islands in Thailand in October when she decided to take in the famous Monkey Beach and its residents.

Cute footage shows Taliya – who owns the travel company T World Tours – playing with the long-tailed macaques before wandering off down the sand.

However, walking back across the beach one male spotted Taliya and chased her off into the sea seemingly as a way to protect his banana.

Taliya said: “This was one of the scariest animal encounters of my life. I ran into the ocean to escape, but then other monkeys chased me into the water and started swimming towards me too.

“I was there for work. I own a group travel company, so I was island hopping to scout for the best locations to bring our tours in March and November.

“The monkeys started off as sweet and acted very nonchalant having people around. However, a man docked his boat and started throwing bananas in the water.

“They started fighting over the food and became very angry and territorial once they swam back to land and started eating.

“While I was walking through the crowd of monkeys, I made eye contact with one who was holding a banana.

“He probably thought I was trying to take his food. He then flashed his fangs and darted towards me.”