Los Llanos

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SO we have just finished a four day trek in Los Llanos. Los Llanos is a flatland area that is buzzing with wildlife. We were a bit hesitant at first to book the tour as a result of our last tour in the Amazon which we didn't see very much even though we were promised we´d see crocs etc.
The first day of our tour was very relaxed. We got picked up at the bus station in Barinos and met the rest of our group for the four days. Unfortunately our group was not as good as at Angel Falls. There was 2 couples from Germany who didn´t seem to know how to smile!! We had a Spanish guy and also a Russian frmo Moscow who English was not great so he stayed quiet most of the time. Luckily our tour guide, Junior was great craic and our driver whos name I cant spell was a bit mad too so we spent most of the time with them instead of the rest of the group. After lunch on the first day we went rafting. Spent around one hour rafting which was a good laugh, capsized a few times but wasnt too difficult! We spent the first night with some beers with the others and then with the guides. The next day we had to travel to a ranch on the plains which took us around 3 hours to get too. Our camp was beautiful. The trees were covered in Iguanas and they had a friendly parrot. For the first day at the camp all we had planned was a horse ride around the plains. During this we saw two owls that live under ground, 2 Monitor Lizzards and many other birds that I dont know the name of. When we were on the way back to the camp we were alongside a small river covered by crocs. Loads of them just chilling in the evening sun. Was pretty happy to finally see some crocs, they were roughly around 1.5-2 meters in length so big enough.
The next morning we were heading off for our boat safari when I got talking to an American at the camp next to us. He said he had seen an Anaconda this morning so I said this to Junior and with 30seconds we were all back in the Jeep on the hunt for the Anaconda. After around 30mins searching we finally found her. She was around 3-3.5 meters in Length and had just finished eating a small croc! Unfortunately we couldn´t disturb her too much as she would have to vomit her food so a just held her tail and got some good photos but I was happy to finially see an Anaconda, not many places in the world you can find them and on these trips theres generally only a 20% chance to see one, while looking at the Anaconda our guide found a little caimen only 3feet which we all got a chance to hold! afterwards we made our way back to the boat safari. This was full of wildlife. We saw many Capivara in the waters but they were quite camera shy. We then came across a Tree Boa snake which was around 1.5meters in length but was well coiled up on the tree. We were surrounded by dolphins in the water but these were impossible to get on camera. They would just stick their head out for a second and then pop up smewhere else with their tail. Junior had mentioned that we were going to try and find some sort of turtle so at half way the boat started going around in circles. Apparently this makes the turtle come to the water and sure enough after trying a few different spots we see one of our guides diving into the water. A few seconds later he pops up with a strange thing in his hands. The turtle really looked like a dinosaur. Its back was spiked and I have never seen a turtle face the same. After the Turtle we went Paranha fishing. The teeth on these paranha was so strong. Apparently they can eat a whole cow in 20 minutes! Other Animals we saw on this safari were many birds including 4 red and blue Macaws, pretty amazing, many different types of birds which I cant really remember now. quite a few Caimen and many Iguanas.
After lunch we had the Jeep safari ofr the vening and night. This included many Capivaras, birds of Prey, many hawks and an eagle. We saw deer but that was not so interesting. When it got dark we had our touches ready to find some more crocs. Its amazing at night as all you have to do is shine the tourch on a small peace of water and you just see these eyes light up. We got a couple more in the dark. It was a pretty cloudy night but this was made up by the fire flies in the sky. There were hundreds of the little flies flashing and lighting up the sky, was beautiful.
The next day we had to get the bus to Merida which is where we are now. The drive was very nice through the mountains and I think I have now reached my highest altitude ever. We stopped to get some food at 3600 meters in the Andes. Was funny as I was starting to feel a little dizzy and sick but I dont think it lasts too long.
Merida is a beautiful town set 2000 meters up in the Andes. It is surrounded by high mountains, one of which we might be climbing tomorrow depending on what prices they give us. Will write another blog before we leave Venezuela in a couple of days.

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Photos

Iguana
One of the friendly iguanas running around the garden

Dead Cow
The beautiful dead cow at the entrance to our ranch being eaten by the vulchers

Owl that lives in the ground
This guy can turn his head 360degrees!!

Cane toad
These guys were huge

She beautiful!!
You can see the shape of the Crocodile she ate!!

Cute little guy
Poor guy has half a tail missing!