Giant anteaters

Hi Silvermachine,

There is no doubt that the best place to see Giant Anteaters in Venezuela is in Los Llanos.
I was at hato El Cedral, a big ranch in Apure State, in December and I saw both a giant anteater and a tamandua, which is also known as a lesser anteater.
The birds and caimans were amazing, and I also saw savanna fox, deer, anacondas and loads and loads of chiguires... which you call capybara.

My bestest blog: Venezuelan Odyssey

Many thanks, Yadira, for your post. I will look into the possibility of going to Los Llanos. Do you think there's any chance of seeing these animals in the Gran Sabana area?

I don't think you can see many fauna in la Gran Sabana. Los Llanos is your best shot.

I've never seen any significant wildlife in the Gran Sabana unless it was domesticated or cooked.

I once saw a coati on the counter of a gold-mining store at KM 88.

And in the Orinoco I saw a Giant Anteater that was tied up in a house. The owner said it was a baby and they had eaten the mother the day before. i was too upset to stay for dinner at that place and we left.

It was the height of the rainy season and The Giant Anteater and its mom had been caught while swimming in the Orinoco.

If you can go to Los LLanos you will defintely see more wildlife.

My bestest travel blog: Venezuelan Odyssey

Thank you both for your replies. Sorry to hear about the fate of the Orinoco anteaters - I didn't realise that people actually ate them or that they did much swimming. As you can see, I'm totally ignorant about anteaters! One last question: can you recommend any particular 'hato' in Los Llanos for seeing these creatures?

Many thanks again.

Hi,

As I said, I was in Hato El Cedral in December and it was really beautiful. We saw hundreds of birds, caiman, anteaters and capybara, the biggest rodents in the world!

The main hatos used to be Hato El Pinero and Hato El Cedral. My first trip to Los Llanos a few years ago was to Pinero but it is currently in a battle with the government over its land titles and is not operating as before.

Cedral gets lots of birdwatchers every year but the highlight for me was fishing for piranha and getting up close to some huge anacondas.

The hato is on the main road between Mantecal and Elorza and the bus Caracas, via Maracay, to Elorza from Expresos Los Llanos drops you off right in front of the main gate.

The office is in Caracas but they have a website, just google El Cedral.

We booked by email before we got to Venezuela. We stayed three days two nights but we saw so much in the first day that maybe two days would be enough. They take you out in a lorry and on a boat and there are excursions in the morning and afternoon.

There's not much to do in the evening after sightseeing but the rabch hands play llanero music which is nice. To be honest we were so tired after a full day that we crashed out after a few beers.

There's a small pool which was great to freshen up between excursions, especially considering that you can't swim in any of the rivers because of the piranhas, caimans, stingrays and electric eels.

My amigo put some photos up on his blog: Los Llanos Photos

Thanks again, Yadira, for all the useful info. I was thinking of trying El Piñero, but your comments have convinced me that it's probably better to go to El Cedral. It's also useful to know that a short stay is likely to be long enough to see a wide variety of animals and birds.