Los Llanos - Team Dolphin!

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Next stop the lowlands of Venezuela - Los Llanos, full of cattle ranches and wildlife.  Got off to a rough start by getting the truck stuck in the mud and all having to push and then suffering a mosquito and beetle invasion and no water supplies in the house we were staying in.

After a good night´s sleep in a hammock it didn´t seem quite so bad though.

Our wildlife spotting started with a giant anteater in the distance which our guide, Alan, decided was too far away and therefore chased it across the fields towards us like some kind of David Bellamy/Steve Irwin on drugs.

Hawk
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We also spotted some giant guinea pigs (sorry, can´t remember the actual name) and lots of species of birds.  Lots of Caymen around too included a "just-dead" one on the road which prompted some rather un-ethical photo taking!

We stopped on a bridge for some piranha fishing - most of them got wise and just munched their way through a free lunch without getting caught but after some perseverance I finally managed it.

In the afternoon we took a boat up the river to spot dolphins who were very shy - our guide suggested that if we got in and made dolphin noises they might be encouraged to play so four of us gave it a go - "Team Dolphin"!  Unfortunately it seemed to scare the dolphins off and we got swept downstream away from the boat and heard afterwards that there are probably piranhas and stingrays in the water.... we all made it out safely though.

I hope it was actually dead
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On the rest of the river we came across iguanas, a couple of snakes that Alan decided to wave around to get good photos, a giant catfish around 3 metres long and again lots of bird-life.

That evening we were entertained by the local dog (perro) who wagged his tail so hard his behind shook like he was dancing to reggaeton music!