Potholes
Ibis
Capybara
Los Llanos is Venezuela's answer to Brazil's Pantanal, a vast tropical grassland plain. The climate change here is extreme. During the rainy season, many parts can flood up to a meter which turns the woodlands and grassland into a temporary wetland. This flooding makes the area unique for its wildlife. The area supports around 70 species of water birds, including the Scarlet Ibis, which we saw loads of and whose colour is stunningly vibrant. During the dry season, the animals make for the manmade trenches of water by the roadside, easy pickings for wildlife watching.
We travelled to our Pousada accommodation in three 4x4 Land Cruisers. Venezuelan drivers are absolutely crazy and love going from breakneck speed to jamming on brakes. To be fair to our driver he was always in control (or at least always seemed nonplussed), but some of the other group got rougher treatment and had to ask their driver to slow down. Al, our driver, explained that in Venezuela you do not necessarily have to do a driving test, you just need to bribe someone to stamp your documents and off you go. Hearing this explained a lot. By the way the reason for jamming on of brakes is that every couple of meters there are speed-bumps in the main road - set down, not by the council, but by street vendors who want you to slow down so they can chat to you and possibly convince you to buy their wares. There were also a gazillion potholes which the drivers would madly veer around to avoid. At one stage we were all the way over on the hard shoulder of the wrong side of the road and up ahead a lorry was in a similar position - it felt like being back home, albeit for a few seconds with cars driving on the left!
Anyway, we arrived at Los Llanos in one piece (only just! some of the group would say) and discovered we were staying in another animal friendly camp. There were ducks and ducklings, hens, roosters and chicks, a calf, horses, five adorable puppies, a macaw, and an iguana. Happy days for the girls who went off playing with all the baby animals; trying to catch one duckling out of about twenty is great fun, that together with five puppies meant loads of cuddles and melted hearts all over the shop!
Domestic animals were not what we were there to see though, so we headed off trying to find an anaconda or an elusive giant ant-eater. Don't get your hopes up we were warned by the guides, no guarantee you will see either as both are notoriously shy. We searched high and low and came up short, still it would have been far too convenient to come across these creatures on the first outing of our stay there. Instead we had to settle for seeing dozens of different types of bird, with the Scarlet Ibis being my favourite for his vibrancy.
Next up was a canoe trip up the river. Here we came across yet more birds, iguanas, tortoises, capybaras, caiman. Everywhere you looked was brimming with activity. We even saw a pod of pink dolphin, who kept teasing us by surfacing for just a second and giving us the merest of glimpses at them. Tried my hand at yet more piranha fishing, caught two fishies, but my first was a whopper - biggest catch of the day! (Tasted very nice, but sadly I was lacking lime for flavour this time)
Later on we headed off on an evening drive in the 4x4's as we could cover more ground this way. Came across the biggest group of capybaras I've seen on this trip, and the pièce de résistance, our guide found two anacondas mating in the bush. The female was huge, about 7 meters the guide reckoned, but we didn't disturb them, just had a quick nose and moved swiftly on. Another anaconda was found in the marsh a few minutes later, she was a smaller snake, about 5 meters. Elated with our find we headed back to camp, after watching a beautiful sunset. On our way, Jane spotted a large animal in the bush, and it turned out to be a giant ant eater. Sadly he didn't hang around too long to pose for decent photos, don't let it's bushy tail fool you, that guy can run like the wind!
Our last night in Los Llanos ended in a bit of a session. The guys had been drinking beers and were stacking them in the centre of the table. I challenged them to fill the entire length of the table with bottles and they were only too happy to oblige. (Made short work of it too!!). Possibly not the best idea when you have a seven hour 4x4 ride ahead of you the next day - but I play the pesky devil on your shoulder card very well. To be fair, despite the giggling messes that I packed off to bed, none of the guys were suffering the next day - so a good night was had and no bad side effects. Win win!
Core objectives for this sector achieved:
See an anaconda - check!
See a giant ant eater - check!
Let's vamoose!!
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