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Destination: MANTECAL, Venezuela
Los Llanos
Venezuela's Great Plains teem with cowboys and wildlife
By BART JONES -- Associated Press
MANTECAL, Venezuela -- Massive storks fly overhead with branches to make nests for their newborn. Two capybaras, the world's largest rodent, rear up on their hind legs and go at each other with teeth bared in a turf fight. Then our guide nuttily grabs a four-meter (14-foot) anaconda snake by the tail and hauls it out of a swamp so some Italian tourists can touch it. All that, and it's still my first hour on a cattle ranch in Los Llanos, a vast savannah of grasslands and rivers in southern Venezuela where cowboys still ride barefoot atop horses. The Llanos (Great Plains) are teeming with flourescent-colored birds, freshwater dolphins, giant anteaters, jaguars, pumas, buffalo (they're making a comeback), manta rays, electric eels, piranhas, those tasty capybaras (a Venezuelan delicacy), and endangered man-eating crocodiles that conservationists are trying to save. The region has more species of birds than the United States and Britain combined, with such abundance you can leave the binoculars at home during the peak season when flocks are so thick they seem like clouds flying overhead. Many ecologists consider the Llanos to be one of South America's most spectacular wildlife attractions. To add to the experience, you can stay on huge ranches such as El Cedral where I visited and go on safari-like expeditions. The Llanos are "an extraordinary place to do eco-tourism," says Venezuelan biologist Emilio Herrera, an expert on the capybara, the rodent weighing up to 60 kilos (130 pounds) and looking something like a pig with reddish-brown hair. Many of Venezuela's public wildlife reserves have been ravaged by poachers who operate freely because of the government's almost nonexistent protection of wildlife, according to conservationists. But wildlife is flourishing on private ranches such as El Cedral where owners have cracked down on poaching, partly because they realize that exotic animals attract tourists and can be a lucrative business. Because of the hunting ban, animals on the ranches are amazingly unafraid of human beings. When the safari truck rumbles down the pot-holed dirt roads at El Cedral, the driver has to honk the horn and wait for the scores of capybaras that lie across the road to get up and move. "You won't see a spectacle like this anywhere in South America," marvels U.S. biologist Rexford Lord as he looks out at green grassland and ponds filled with hundreds of grazing capybaras. El Cedral alone has 340 species of birds on its 53,000 hectares (131,000 acres) of land, including hoatzins, zigzag herons, crested caracaras and scarlet ibises. At nearly 5 feet tall (1.5 meters), the spectacular jabiru stork that is found in the Llanos rivals the condor as the largest flying bird in South America. Riding along the ranch's roads, you'll also see scores of spectacled caimans (alligators) with their beady eyes peering out just above the water's surface. Conservationists also have released a few orinoco crocodiles that have been raised in captivity as part of a program aimed at saving the species from extinction. Adults can grow to 23 feet long (7 meters) and weigh 1,000 kilos (2,200 pounds). The Llanos, which start about five hours south of Caracas by car, swallow up nearly one-third of Venezuela, which is the size of Texas and Oklahoma combined. Many Venezuelans consider it to be the "real" Venezuela. Sparsely populated and with few paved highways, it remains a kind of wild frontier of sleepy, dusty towns and has changed little since being opened up as cattle country in the 19th century. The Llanos provide the setting for the most famous Venezuelan novel, "Dona Barbara," by former president Romulo Gallegos. When Venezuelans want to look their formal best they dress in the region's typical "liqui-liqui" collar. During the independence war early last century, the Llanos were the site of some of the bloodiest battles and hard-bitten "Llaneros" made up most of the troops of independence hero Simon Bolivar. While those days are long over, the Llanos today are plagued by Colombian guerrillas, drug traffickers, cattle rustlers and common criminals who operate mainly near the Colombian border in the southernmost part of the region. Travelers are best advised to stay away from those areas, and shouldn't be surprised to see armed guards at the entrances of ranches such as El Cedral. The Llanos go through an amazing transformation each year. Torrential summer rains in the wet season, from May to November, turn vast areas into inland seas. Then in the dry season, from December to April, the Llanos turn into a virtual desert where the bones of dead animals can be seen on the cracked earth. In some ways, the blisteringly hot dry season is the best time to see the wildlife since parched animals are forced to gather around the few pools of water that remain. But the wet season is also attractive: Fields that seem to stretch on forever turn a lush green. GETTING THERE: Caracas is about a five-hour flight from New York and about three hours from Miami. After reaching Venezuela's capital you can make it to the El Pinero ranch in the northern Llanos by car in about five hours. The El Cedral ranch is about nine hours. Another option is flying into the cities of Barinas or San Fernando de Apure and then driving -- or being driven -- to El Cedral. The flights cost the equivalent of about $100 round-trip. The ranches or the Venezuelan Audubon Society can make all the arrangements. The car trip from Barinas or San Fernando to El Cedral costs about $100 one way. ENTRY: A valid passport and visa or tourist card are required. Tourist cards are issued on flights from the United States. U.S. citizens who do not have Venezuelan cedulas (national identity cards) must carry their passport with them at all times. GETTING AROUND: You can rent a car to explore the region, though rates tend to be expensive, robberies aren't unheard of, and the best wildlife action is on the ranches themselves. The U.S. State Department warns that cross-border violence, including kidnappings, occurs frequently in remote areas along the Colombian border in Zulia, Tachira, Apure and Amazonas states. LODGING AND DINING: The best bet is to stay on one of the ranches in the Llanos, El Cedral and El Pinero being the most popular. The rates range from just under $100 per person per day up to $145, depending on the season and whether you take a single room or double. It includes the room, three meals a day and two excursions that may entail fishing for piranha. INFORMATION: The official Web site of the Venezuelan government's national tourism office, Corpoturismo, is www.venetur.com.ve. The El Cedral ranch's Web site is www.hatocedral.com. The Venezuelan Audubon Society's phone number is 582-992-3268 or 582-992-2812, and you may or may not reach an English speaker. Sending an e-mail may be easier: marketing@telcel.net.ve The U.S. State Departments Web site for travel warnings and other information is http://travel.state.gov.
(First featured: November, 1999)
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