Los Llanos
From the Orinoco Delta we go back to Ciudad Bolivar and stay for another night at Posada La Casita. From there with a night bus we drive to Barinas, in the western part of Venezuela. A very long trip, lasting 14 hours. Luckily we do not have many military stops. Peter had helped us to arrange a tour to Los Llanos. The great plains of Venezuela which also span into Columbia. Typically the tours start from Merida, but we don't have enough time to go all the way there.
Instead Peter had arranged that the tour, coming from Merida, picks us up in Barinas. Unfortunately it is still a several hours car ride to the camp in the Llanos, even from Barinas. At least we have a pretty good lunch before that. First, in a long time, they do not serve chicken but “real” meet. First signs that we are in a different part of the country.
Meet for dinner as we arrive in Barinas. This time it is no chicken. ;-)
Typical scenery for Los Llanos, the vast planes.
Cattles grazing quite happily next to the caimans.
A group of capybaras relaxing in the sun.
Wonder what this is? It's a anteater with a baby on its bag.
We find them all over the Los Lanos, the caimans.
Not so common a turtle.
Great place for bird watchers.
The famous anaconda. Here a smaller one.
Michael catching a fish on his first attempt.
Yes, this is a barracuda. Very tasty but not much meat on the bone. ;-)
While here you need to go for a ride.
Sun set in the Los Llanos.
A half wild anteater paying the new tourists a visit.
14 - 14
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On this three day tour we do the typical things you can expect in the Los Llanos. It is a great spot to do bird watching, piranha fishing, horseback riding and taking a tour on a boat. In the vast planes you can find the huge cattle ranches with their cattle herds. The amazing thing is that they graze quite happily next to big anacondas and caimans.
In the hato we stay, which is in the area of Mantecal, they have a very interesting pet. A half wild anteater that they found without his mother and hand-feed until it was big enough to cope on its own. Although it can do whatever it wants, it comes back pretty much every night for it’s portion of milk. All the tourists are scared when it comes the first night. Then they realize that all it wants is his milk, steal some eggs from the kitchen and play with the new tourists. But don’t touch it’s tail, that’s something it doesn’t like. Also be careful because their claws are very strong.
Quite some experience! :-)
