Midmorning yesterday, much of Kenya stalled to a halt. The electricity cut off, plunging interiors into darkness. Screens blipped off. Internet connections fizzled. It was, in the words of Kenya Electricity Generation Company (aka KenGen), a bonafide “national power blackout.”

The culprit? A single vervet monkey, doing standard monkey things in the wrong place. After climbing onto the roof of Gitaru Power Station, the critter jumped onto a transformer, tripping it into overload and causing a cascade of outages, the company said in a Facebook post.

It took about four hours for them to get things up and running again (although some customers say they still don’t have electricity). KenGen provides power to 72% of the country, and many jumped on the opportunity to rib them gently. Others seem to think the monkey is more of a fall guy: “Monkeys? I very much doubt it. Just poor shoddiness,” customer Kiki Ghai wrote in a Facebook comment.

The monkey survived his brush with power, and was taken in by Kenya Wildlife Services.

Every day, we track down a fleeting wonder—something amazing that’s only happening right now. Have a tip for us? Tell us about it! Send your temporary miracles to cara@atlasobscura.com.