From the coast we spent a very long day travelling south to lovely lodge on a river. I haven't a clue where it was but it took up a good 12 hours to get there. We spent a night at the lodge and then we said goodbye to the truck and changed into land cruisers for the journey in to the Los Llanos region. Pete had told us that it was going to be hot, dry and packed full of wildlife. If I'm honest I was feeling that there wasn't a whole lot of point in the trip as we had also seen a heap of wildlife in Argentina and Brazil and it seemed a hell of a long way to go just to see the same birds.
It was a long way to go as well. We had a long, hot journey with 8 of us crammed in the back of the jeeps that had inward facing seats so there was no room for legs. We were 3 hours late by the time we got there and after the uncomfortable journey, crazy drivers and no food a lot of the group, me included declared that what we saw better have been worth the journey! We had an hour or so out and about looking at the birds in the pools at either side of the road. The pools are man made and were created when soil was dug out in order to build up the sides of the road. The ditches are then filled with water in the wet season and in the dry season all the wildlife surrounds it. There were lots of birds but the highlight was definitely being able to sit on the roof rack of the jeeps giving a great view.
Our full day of activites started with a great boat trip which everyone enjoyed. Everywhere you looked there were birds flying overhead or iguanas basking on the river banks. We also saw the usual capybaras and caymen but also howler monkeys and dolphins. In the afternoon I did an hour's horse riding and we all went out in the jeeps again to try and find anacondas. Anacondas are the biggest snake in the world and everyone was keen to catch a glimpse. They like water and land so our guides chose the prodding vegetation growing on the pools with a huge stick to find them. We saw 2 huge ones in a bush, apparently mating and then another one about 4m long on top of the pools. They were cool to see but to top the day off be saw a giant anteater on the way home!
Los Llanos has been great and we have seen lots, but for me the highlight was sadly the friendly puppies and ducklings roaming the farm as they were so cute. We are currently in Merida which we arrived after another 10 hours in the jeeps on a very eventfull journey (the bonnet blew up onto the windscreen whilst driving and the back door threatened to fall off). We went on a windy road passing over the Sierra Nevada at 3600m and unbelievably we have felt cold. Despite the fact that it was 18 degrees most of use had to dig out the fleeces.
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