When I first watched this clip I had flashbacks to my one and only trip to African Lion Safari located here in Southern Ontario, just west of Hamilton, ON. Our car seemed to be in peril throughout the whole drive through the game reserve. A group of zebra rubbed up against the door, an ostrich pecked at the window, and a park employee used his pickup truck to guide a stressed-out rhinoceros away from (possibly) charging at the cars. But the craziest few minutes were in the baboon area, where dozens of the monkeys of all sizes climbed up on the cars. They pulled at the wipers and the weather stripping around the windshield, hung on the side mirrors and basically tried to get into everyplace they could put their little hands. One large baboon seemed to relish sitting on the roof of the car and enjoying the ride.

I can only imagine the sheer joy of these 40 monkeys at Knowsley Safari Park; northwest of Liverpool; when they were left with a Hyundai i30 hatchback to explore. In the clip they jump and up and down on the hood, crawl up and over the seats, gnaw on the dashboards, seats and headrests. Basically all the things you would see when the Matheson family went on a typical road trip.

David Ross, general manager at Knowsley Safari Park, said: “For a baboon, to have a car to play with for a whole day is manna from heaven”.

While the car appeared to be only lightly damaged, I pity the future buyer of this car. Good luck on getting that monkey smell off the seats.

[via The Drum]