Wildlife Safari in the Llanos

  Barinas, Los Llanos, Venezuela
Monday, March 9, 2009

Hello again,

As promised, here are some details from our Los Llanos trip. We have more pictures to add (scenery and wildlife and the such), but here are some photos to appease family :) One of the great things about this trip was that it was an organized tour, meaning that we didn't have to plan our meals and accomodations for our first time since we left the hotel in Caracas. That in itself was a nice break.

The morning our group, organized by Arassari Trek, was supposed to head off, the van ran into transmission problems, so the guide (Alan) took us on a hike into the nearby cloud forest instead. Butterflies are his expertise, and he is quite happy here since there are so many species flitting around the mountains. He described some of the different families to us, along with their different predator aversion strategies. It was also a good opportunity to get to know the group we would be spending our next 4 days with. There was an Aussi couple who have been travelling SA for 6 months (great information source!), the guy's brother, and their mom. A young German couple (yup, even younger than me) sharing the same posada also came along, contributing to the group of 8. Everyone was very nice and lively, contributing to a fantastic trip. Sometimes the group can make all the difference.

Day 1 of the actual trip!: We assumed that the transmission problem was fixed...and it was. We met bright and early to allow us to begin our descent down the narrow, weaving roads of the Andes early in the day. People do feel sick travelling that road but with the windows opened and regular stops along the way everything was fine.. Our first stop was for coffee and egg empenadas, which were actually pretty good considering that I'm all empenada'd out (Cory that is, Pierre can still handle them. He shy's away from burgers though, now that one gut hating patty kept him busy for two days with his pants around his ankles! But enough of that....back to the real story). Alan knew exactly where to stop on a river to spot a breeding pair of torrent ducks, and we weren't disappointed. These neat ducks live by rushing streams, the kind you get in the Rockies, and dive and splash around as if there was no current at all. We continued towards our next destination- hotsprings! ahhh... The bus couldn't make it up all hills if it didn't get a chance to accelerate, so we had to hop out at times, no pushing though. The excuse we got was that the carburator was not set properly for the altitude... We still don't know if that's just an excuse.  Anyhow, we eventually made it to the base, and hiked our way into the springs for a relaxing dip. I think they were about 60 degrees F. The Andean folks depend primarily upon agriculture to support themselves, and we saw many potato crops being tended to by hand or by cattle-drawn ploughs. Many fields are steep and unterraced; I don't know how they prevent the leeching of nutrients and major erosion. People also cultivate garlic, which we could smell from the road, carrots, cabbage and maize. There were also a number of honey stands erected along our route.
    We stopped at the highest pass in the Venezuelan Andeas which happens to be right next to the fault line which causes destructive earthquakes every 100 years or so. The region is overdue, and it's unfortunate that the cities, towns and villges are not overly prepared for such an event in terms of infrastructure. We continued through Barinas, a sweltering lowland city at the base of the mountains and the perimeter of the plains. Chavez's family has a stronghold on this region with both his brother and dad (a retired school teacher) now in power. The family is originally from Los Llanos, the area we were about to tour. The economy of this region is driven primarily by cattle-oriented production, such as meat and dairy, but agriculture and fishing are very important to some specific areas. 
  

Arassari camp

Just prior to dinner, we arrived at our first camp- The most beautiful accomodations we have enjoyed yet. The grounds were manicured and accented by flowering plants such as roses. Palms shaded the pathways that connected the cabins and the open-aired but sheltered eating area. The carpentry was incredible. Apparently highly skilled German carpenters built the wooden structures free of charge, as their hometown rules prevented them from earning a living for three years after their training. We all went for a dip in the adjacent river before eating dinner and settling in for the night. It would have been nice to stay here on the last night of our tour as a treat, but it was still nice.

Day 2: 

Cory Tubing

After a breakfast of champions (yes moms, we are trying to gain back that weight), we went river tubing. The river was pretty low and the current was not very strong but the butt scraping on the exposed rapids more than made up for the rush in adrenaline we would have experienced otherwise. No really, it was alot of fun anyway! The water temperature was perfect, the blue skies were terrific and the sand in our shorts worked as a great exfoliator.

After a quick lunch, we headed off for the last drive to the Llanos. With a few stops on the way we got to see our first caimans, and lots of birds including hundreds of scarlet ibises. A beautiful sight. The day was hot, hot, hot, and we arrived at our next camp, a bunkhouse. Alan instructed us how to use a hammock properly, which has increased its comfort level expedentially. We might still need a Gravol to sleep in a hammock on a boat but at least we won't fall out or feel like we reincarnated into bananas (cambur in castellano).


Day 3: Again, we were up bright and early to eat, pack and head off to a nearby cattle ranch. The region is densely occupied by these ranches, so it's necessary to make prior arrangements to access the land, and tours are the easiest way to go. As it is the dry season, the vast, flat lands were baked dry and dusty, aside from the odd pool of water where wildlife such as caimans, birds, and capybaras congregates. Our guide spotted an anteater surprisingly quickly, and surprisingly close to us. We all piled out of the van, and he managed to herd the poor thing quite close to us. They are much bigger and hairier than I thought they would be. As we continued, we saw plenty of caimans (alligators), a tiny snake that I almost stepped on, and capybaras, the world's largest rodent (looks like a giant guineapig but tastier). Everywhere, we saw huge flocks of birds- whistling ducks, ibises, herons, hoatzins, spoonbills, etc. etc. The colours were amazing. 

Luis the Gator

Alan took us further into the ranch to meet Luis for breakfast- he turned out to be a huge and rare Orinoco crocodile. His species is extremely vulnerable as they were nearly hunted to extinction for their skin . Quite the sight; I wouldn't want to get close to those powerful jaws. However, he was quite complying as we took photos of his pearly whites- from a safe distance, of course.
After spending half the day looking for birds and caimans, we had lunch and an open boat took the entire crew out onto the river (sorry, can't remember the name offhand). Our first mission was to look for river dolphins. They were spotted at the convergence of two rivers, and we were told to make noise to pique their curiosity. Either it worked, or the dolphins were curious regardless, and we enjoyed a large pod that swam, splashed and jumped around us. This was the first natural population of dolphins I have ever seen (Cory speaking). I haven't been lucky enough to spot them on the Pacific yet.
   And of course there were birds, although not all people in the tour were too excited about them. Ospreys, cormorants, hoatzins, bitterns, ibises, herons (including the funny looking Boat-billed heron)... etc. This time, our camp was outdoors on the bank of one of the river channels. 

Piranha fishing

We unloaded the boat and began fishing for dinner- piranhas! A line on a stick with beef on the hook does the trick, and I could catch one about 50% of the time I casted. This was my first time really fishing. Not all were big enough for eating, but I contributed to dinner. I caught more than Pierre, but I think my lack of skills helped me there. It's not the same as fishing for salmon and trout, for example. 
  

Pierre holding croc

We then headed out on another sunset boat tour. The setting sun was breathtaking with the streaks of bright oranges, reds and yellows across the sky and the trees in the foreground were sharply contrasted. The mission was to find an anaconda. No luck, but we did see plenty of caimans and sleeping birds and nightjars. Pierre-Paul held a caiman. As we were on our way back, while we were still looking for anacondas, this large mass lands on Pierre's lap, bounces onto Cory's, and drops to the ground flayling like a fish out water. It just happens that vegetarian piranhas like to jump out of water at night time and one landed in our boat (note from cory: they still bite!). Actually, that was the second of three that would land in our boat that night but ours was by far the largest. It weighted in at about a pound. That thing was trashing around the bottom of the boat (trying to grab toes?) and we both jump onto our seats like 13 year old schoolgirls afraid of a mouse (Cory may or may not have even screamed like one). When all was said and done, that fish was pretty tasty!

Eating Pirana

Day 4:
We got up with the sun and had a great fruit and jelly-filled bread breakfast. After packing, we headed back onto the boat for a last chance at finding an anaconda. After about an hour of searching the banks of the river we got a good look at a red howler monkey carrying a young one. This was not the first howlers we had seen but it was nice to see nonetheless. Shortly after our boat captain found a nice little anaconda. A cute little thing measuring about 2.5m and weighing in at about 20 pounds. A little baby really! Our guide jumped in the water wearing nothing but shorts and lunged into the reeds, pulling out this sweet looking innocent creature. 

Cory and the Anaconda

All who wanted got to hold it (ahhh the sweet aroma of ammonia) and Cory got to try it out as a scarf. Anacondas are not as pretty as fluffy boas but we got a few good laughs out of it.
The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. We took the boat back to the bunker, retrieved the few items we had left behind and hit the road for Merida. We did not stop very often except when the van broke down about 30 minutes out of Merida. The alternator stopped working and things didn't look too good. Alan, ever so handy and helpful, called in a cab that drove us back into town.  We checked into our hotel and headed out for what ended up being a very unfriendly burger!
 

Hoatzins

Iguana

No brakes in the Andes

Sunset