The Llama Travel Blog

South America is a land of incredible vistas and astounding cities, but for me, the best thing about South America is the amazing animals that live there. From the long limbed Jabiru stork wading through the wetlands of the Pantanal, to the scuttling red Sally Lightfoot crabs that scamper the shores of the Galapagos Islands, and cheeky capuchin monkeys that swing through the treetops of Costa Rica, South America is a wildlife lover’s dream. The below list of my particular favourites only scratches the surface of the spectacular spectrum of wildlife that call the Americas home.

Brazil, with its beautiful beaches and colourful cities, has much to offer the adventurous holidaymaker. But for a unique and really fulfilling experience, I would recommend delving deeper inland and spending some time in the Brazilian Pantanal.

The region known as the Pantanal fills an extensive area in central Brazil, and is home to the largest wetland on earth. What makes it so special is the amount of wildlife found here: thousands of species live in this ecological sanctuary. The largely open landscape means that wildlife sightings happen all the time: a giant anteater will stumble out of a thicket, its bushy tail trailing through the grass; red and blue macaws launch out of the treetops, gliding in pairs; water birds and red-necked jabiru storks dive into water pools, feeding on trapped fish.

Just about everyone who visits Peru goes to Machu Picchu and loves it. You can visit on a day trip from Cusco or the Sacred Valley, and this is fabulous. It’s a long day (the Llama Travel excursion starts before 6am and you get back to Cusco around 9pm), but very satisfying. This includes a beautiful train journey, an in-depth guided tour of Machu Picchu and a great lunch in the restaurant next to the ruins. As Machu Picchu is quite a compact site, you visit most of the important parts of the ruins on the guided visit. So, given that you can visit Machu Picchu and see many of the significant sites in on a day trip, why would you want to spend a night there? Well, lots of reasons…

Llama Travel’s Sales Manager Graeme has always been a fan of travelling in comfort and style. For his latest blog he has reviewed some of his favourite superior hotels in Peru, from location and facilities to dining and atmosphere, and why in his opinion they are worth every pound of their upgrade supplement!

Llama Travel’s Travel Consultant Charlotte recently had the pleasure of taking her first trip to Argentina and Chile. It came as no surprise to her that the glaciers were vast and beautiful, Torres del Paine was magnificent and awe-inspiring and that Buenos Aires was elegant and thriving. Something that did come as a surprise to Charlotte was just how much she loved the Chilean Lake District. So much so that she has decided to make it the subject of her first blog from her Patagonia travels. Read on to see why Charlotte thinks the Chilean Lake District is more than worth a visit.

Costa Rica is the happiest place on earth, according to the Happy Planet index. A statement that Llama Travel’s Travel Consultant Marianela, who has just come back from a 14-day trip to Costa Rica, is not about to contradict. From the dizzying heights of the Monteverde skywalks, to the dense jungles of Tortuguero and the calm flowing waters of the Tabacon Hot Springs, Marianela has put together her top 5 list of what makes Costa Rica such a blissful country to visit.

It’s a sign of a good holiday when your first thought upon returning home is ‘phew, I need a break’. It is the sign of an excellent holiday when a break is already built in. On our Brazil programme, we provide a three night beach break to act as a peaceful limbo between the dizzying excitement of Rio, Iguazu Falls and Salvador, and the humdrum of everyday life.

Next week sees the release of Paddington, a film adaptation of the classic children’s book series about a speckled bear who journeys from “darkest Peru” to England, and throws himself and everyone around him into a whirlwind of adventures.

Here at Llama Travel, we do the reverse; whisking people away from their cosy firesides in good old Blighty and off to the teeming jungles, vast lakes, soaring mountains and faraway cities of Peru and the rest of the Americas. Someone who took the reverse Paddington journey with us quite recently is Llama Travel’s own Sales Manager Graeme, and he found it hard to imagine why anyone, bear in a duffle coat or otherwise, would ever want to leave Peru!

Check out the below for Graeme’s top 5 list of what in darkest Peru is worth shining a spotlight on…

Tierra del Fuego, the archipelago at the end of the world, has been a beacon to explorers since the days of Magellan and Darwin. Lying off the southernmost tip of Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego encompasses a scattering of islands across the stormy South Atlantic and the Strait of Magellan. The islands of Tierra del Fuego, including the desolate Cape Horn and the Diego Ramírez Islands, are the forerunners to the frozen expanses of Antarctica, and exist in very harsh subpolar conditions. The largest island in the archipelago is Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, a rugged region of mountain ranges and steppe, fringed with glaciers and dramatic coastlines.