Los Llanos - Venezuela

Who would guess that the highlight of our trip to Venezuela would be three days staying in a spartan cabin on a flat 100,000-acre cattle ranch? The plains of Los Llanos cover a third of the country, from the Andes to the Orinoco. The climate is uncomfortably extreme – torrential rain and floods, followed by searing heat, wind and drought – but we have, by chance, arrived in February after the rains, and before the worst of the heat. This is the best time to visit (although, apparently, people visit throughout the year), when the plentiful wildlife congregates at dwindling waterholes. I feel I have stepped into a childhood I-Spy book in which each illustration has a fascinating, but improbable, assortment of animals and birds.

We arrive at the ranch, three hours' drive from Barinas, one of Venezuela's largest towns, late at night, bumping through pot-holes, and halting every few minutes to wake capybaras blocking our route. Hefty-headed rodents the size of large dogs, the capybaras are reluctant to budge, but eventually trudge grumpily to the verge, followed by gaggles of adorable babies.

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