Surfin' Safari

Well I can now check Safari off my bucket list! We woke up at 4am Friday morning and our caravan of 3 safari cars began the long 2 hour drive to Akagera Park. One of the cars got a flat tire on the way there so we all pulled over and got to hang out with some kids on their way to school while the tire was being fixed. We finally get to the park and the first thing we see are some zebras, you think these animals are cool now, just wait until you see them in the wild. Then we went in search of giraffes and we succeeded.
Our driver, John Paul aka Jumper, really liked to get us as close to the animals as possible so when we found the giraffes he went off the road toward them. Now since we've gotten to the park I've been sitting on top of the car right above the drivers seat and at this point Mikaela has joined me up front. So we're driving toward these giraffes when we notice a HUGE hole and we just start yelling "BIG HOLE BIG HOLE!!" next thing we know we bounce like 5 feet in the air and we're stuck. So another car has to come over and push us up out of the hole. Aside from a bruised butt and tailbone there were no injuries. So then we see all these other cool animals, see facebook for pictures, and after we see the hippos (my favorite by far) we head toward our campsite.
Now Mikaela and I are still sitting on top (this is a common theme) and we're just driving along this road when all of a sudden our car starts to go off the road. We hit this little tree/bush and I look up and we're headed straight for a bigger tree/bush. Without even thinking I roll off the top of the car right before we hit the tree, my camera goes flying into the grass, Mikaela bounces down the car on the other side holding on to her pillow and camera. I get up, find my camera, and walk around the car to see that our back tire has blown and is quickly deflating. Needless to say my only injuries were a few scratches on my leg and thigh, a bruise on my ankle, and a sore body from holding on to the car so hard. But now I have a sweet story about rolling off a safari car. So after we fix the tire we get back on the road and finally make it to our campsite.
At the campsite, Ryan and I are throwing a frisbee when we see a baboon walking by our camp. The baboon starts walking up toward the gazebo that everyone is in along with our food. It jumps up into the gazebo grabs some peanuts and cookies and runs out of the gazebo. The whole time it's doing this everyone in the gazebo is running out screaming. After it leaves the gazebo we all run over and watch as the lovely baboon eats the food it stole right in front of us.
This weekend has been quite an adventure and I'm now sufficiently burned, bruised, scraped, and sore. Totally worth it.