Wildlife spotting in Los Llanos plains, Mérida

There’s so much to explore around bustling Mérida in Venezuela. A trip to Los Llanos proves fruitful for our intern Stephen as he spots anaconda and more!

So the internship here in Merida is finally drawing to a close and I still can’t quite grasp how fast the time passes by when you’re having the time of your life. I already know that the decision to do this internship with LoveTEFL was among the best in my life and it has already opened several new doors for me. It has also provided me with a teaching experience which has made me definitely consider it a career option. At least for the time being it will be a great way to earn some cash to fund my further travels.

We have recently arrived back from our last trip here in Merida and it entailed a 4 day excursion to Los Llanos which is a sort of savannah like region to the east of Merida. Los Llanos translates to ‘the plains’ and I honestly felt like I was in a greener Africa. The wildlife and general experience topped the lot here in Venezuela and that is certainly saying something. You’ll never have such an incredible time and get such value for money as in Los Llanos. It’s something you’d be completely stupid to miss out on visiting Merida.

Although I say a 4 day excursion, it was actually a 2 day tour and the other 2 days were spent driving to our camp and back. It was a long way to drive in sweltering heat but what was to come made it more than worth it. On the first day we started off with a boat tour through Los Llanos. The wildlife was simply spectacular as we glided through the swamps literally in awe of everything around us. There were more species of birds than I could count and at least 5 caiman on every small beach on the river. For anybody not aware of what a caiman is, it is a sort of alligator species native to South America. We also caught some glimpses of the Capybara in the bushes which is the largest rodent on earth. It was bigger than a lot of puppies and I suggest you check it out on google because it was extremely difficult to get a good photo! After the exhilarating ride and a more than satisfying lunch cooked by a local ‘llanera’ (literally ‘plainswoman’) we went piranha fishing. It was a tiny pond where I honestly didn’t think there could be many piranha residing, but boy was I wrong!

We were a group of 10 and between us I think we caught about 15 piranhas. They really are as vicious as the movies and you have to be really careful when unhooking them from your rod. I still can’t get over how such a small fish can have such razor sharp teeth and be capable of devouring a human being. After an exciting day we all crashed early in the camp which was down to a combination of being exhausted and not wanting to get eaten alive by the mosquitos.

The next day was the day we had been really waiting for because it was time to hunt for anacondas. It’s something I’ve always been fascinated by and have wanted to do since I was a child. Our guide spent about 10 minutes doing some poking and prodding in the marshes until he suddenly stopped and had a quick serious Spanish conversation with the local who came along. In a flash they wedged their sticks under the water and flung a 6 metre anaconda onto the grass in front of us. None of us could believe our eyes. We were welcome to pick it up from behind but the strength of it was incredible. It wasn’t planning to stick around and none of us were planning on annoying it any more than we had. It was there long enough to pick it up from behind and take some photos so that was enough for me!

Just seeing this incredible creature in the wild was something I’ll never forget. That afternoon was spent having a relaxing horse ride through the plains but in reality that wasn’t a patch on what we had experienced in the morning.

Los Llanos is an absolute must for anyone visiting the region and was the perfect way to bring our time in Merida to an end. We’ll be heading to Playa Colorada to spend Christmas for a week so no doubt there will be plenty to write about afterwards!