Monkey Magic!
Our first experience in a Wicked Camper begins….off to the Cotswolds!
We’ve been lucky enough to score the Rolling Stones van, so it’s me, Kim and Mick and the gang heading out onto the highway- first stop Longleat Animal Park just outside of Bath, Somerset.
A friend at work had raved about Longleat, so I was ready for Taronga Zoo meets African Safari and we weren’t disappointed. Driving into the park, we saw signs everywhere telling us to keep the windows up and not to encourage the animals. Warning signals flare off in my mind…what were we thinking? We’re basically in a Tarago with the freaking Rolling Stones plastered all over it! What if the animals seeing the graffiti-ed band, go crazy and attack us?!?! Ok calm down, Lauren- you’re being ridiculous. Everybody loves Mick.
We drive leisurely through the first few areas of the park. We meet Becky the giraffe and her family, a few turtles, zebra and camels who don’t seem to be wildly happy to see us as they spit on the ground by the car. Maybe they’re not fans of Jumpin’ Jack Flash.
As we wind our way through the park, guided expertly by the Stones past a vulture enclosure (eewww), we find ourselves greeted by the Monkey Reserve warning- they will climb on your car and cause damage. We look tentatively into the reserve and watch the little creatures running about in the grass. Oh come on, I think. They’re tiny; they couldn’t reach the top of the wheels, let alone dent the car. There was no way we were going to skip seeing the monkeys! Confidently, we drove through the gates.
Oh but how wrong we were. These little bastards created havoc everywhere they went. Drawn to the heat from the engines and seeing the cars as ‘jungle gyms’, the 2 ft tall monsters went mad. And unlike the camels, these guys were very happy to see Mick and the gang. As the car rolled forward at tortoise speed, the monkeys devoured our Wicked Camper like it was the best thing since bananas. At one stage, as they sat happily bouncing up and down on the back windscreen wiper, we thought we may not make it out of this alive.
But sure enough, after what seemed like hours, the playful menaces got bored of the Rolling Stones. This little guy actually made me smile as he sat on the side mirror, cocked his head and knocked on the window. Friends at last.
And you’ll be happy to know we survived the Attack Of The 2 Ft Tall Primates. It really was touch and go for awhile. And all thanks to Mick, Ronnie, Keith and Charlie. We continued through Longleat with minimal fuss (though the lions kept eyeing the van off) and made it to our camping spot for the night. Bring on a cuppa tea and a good lie down!
