16 May 2004
Venezuelan Llanos among the 10 best holidays days in the world

For the adventurous traveller a package fortnight is not an option. Hilary Bradt, the founder 30 years ago of the pioneering Bradt Travel Guides, chooses 10 amazing alternatives

(The Independent) - "I am often asked, 'What's your favourite country?' and am at a loss to answer. So many ingredients have to be mixed together to make the ideal travel experience: weather, local people, one's travel companion and serendipity. The perfect mix of all these is not going to happen in one country. So this top 10 is a totally subjective review of my past 30 years of travel, focusing on one remote place in each country that has lodged in my memory. It is a top 10 not the top 10". According to Hilary Bradt, the Venezuelan Llanos are in her list with Mani Peninsula, Greece; Aldabra Island, Seychelles; The alternative Inca Trail; Torres del Paine, Chile; Persepolis, Iran; Madagascar; Masoala Peninsula; The Burren, West Ireland; Cornwall, England.

About the Venezuelan Llanos, she wrote: " (…) I met the ultimate guinea-pig, the capybara. And not just one capybara but herds of them: brainless, sheep-sized rodents with semi-webbed feet that hang around in the wetlands of South America. There are also roseate spoonbills and scarlet ibis bringing a pink flush to the trees, there are cayman whose eyes shine in the light of a torch at night, river dolphins, giant otters and hoatzin, turkey-sized birds that have claws on their wings like their dinosaur ancestors. Equally enjoyable are the extrovert, hospitable llaneros who make their living raising cattle here and who love music, laughter and conversation"

How to get there
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