Attack of the Baboon!

Oh my did I have a hilarious weekend.... So my friends, Justin, Amy, Paul, and I all decided to take a little road trip adventure to Akagera the Safari game park here in Rwanda. We wanted to go camping and thought it would be fun to camp in the park. I did this last August, so I knew it was safe and we wouldn't get eaten by a lion or something. Anyways, so we showed up at 7 p.m. to find out that the park closed at 6 p.m. and that we couldn't camp. After finally getting a room at the hotel (thank you Justin), we slept and then woke up nice and early to drive around the park and check out the animals. So... after seeing pretty giraffes, zebras, wart hogs, and lots of deer looking things, at about 10 a.m. we came across some very friendly Baboons. Being the young, adventurous people that we are we decided to stop and take some pictures and try to get close to them, maybe even a little too close. Well, actually, first before I got out of the car, I was just sitting there looking at the pretty baboons when all of a sudden one decided to come a bit too close. The baboon who saw me looking at him decided to come get a closer look at me! He decided he would do this by jumping on the hood of the car I was driving and then climb onto my mirror and then into the window that I was FRANTICALLY winding up!

(picture of the baboon, if only they had gotten me screaming from inside the car, I think this could have made for a better picture!) I definitely screamed and freaked because no way, no how did I want a baboon on my lap! Of course I got made fun later for the little incident and my girlish freaking out scream. So... after my friend realized he was not coming in my window he decided to get off the car and just look at us from a far. So... Paul and I decided to get out of the car and get a picture.

After the picture, we noticed another Baboon had decided to climb on the hood of the car again.
(I must admit, not the most flattering picture of me and I think the Baboon has fleas or just really bad exma). Before I go on, let me just say that our guide was with us this whole time and kept saying its okay, its okay.... so of course if our guide said was okay then we thought it was okay. Anyways, so mr. baboon decided to climb onto the hood, so Paul decided to go pose with it, which is the picture below.
As Paul was posing, the Baboon who seemed to not like Paul being so close and wanted to let Paul know who was boss decided to climb down off the hood and attack Paul. Like any grown man would, Paul screamed and threw his bottle at the ambushing baboon. Once the baboon realized he had won the chase he walked away or should I say strutted away with pride. Then... as I was standing there taking in what just happened I looked over at my driver side door that was open and before I could scream baboon there was one CLIMBING IN and onto my seat!!! There was a baboon in the car!! He wasn't there long because his main goal was to just do a quick snatch and steal. He was on a mission to steal our one and only loaf of bread that we had brought on the trip. Why he didn't steal the pringles, popcorn, or cookies is beyond me. Because if I was a baboon that's what I would have gone for. The baboon saw what he wanted and went after it. Before I could do anything, the little booger had snatched up the loaf of bread, jumped out of the car, and into the trees. Not long after his quick exit did he wander his way back onto the road to taunt us and rub in our face that he had snagged our lunch, the little punk.

So... I think it was after the third incident that we realized the best place to observe baboons was probably from inside the car, not outside. Plus, we were tired of getting bulled around by a bunch of baboons, so with our heads hanging low, we headed off. I think I might of even looked in the rear view mirror and saw them cheering and doing what looked like a touch down dance as we drove off... moral of the story... don't mess with baboons or just do what my roommate Amy does when a baboon climbs onto the car, just yell at them.