Hato Piñero

I'm sure you all know how much I love animals. I love dogs most of all, but I also thoroughly enjoy a good zoo, bird sightings, fish, deer, etc. So what could be better than Venezuela's version of a safari?

P and I spent our Thanksgiving at Hato Piñero, an 88,000 square hectare nature preserve and cattle ranch in Los Llanos (the plains) of Cojedes state. Although I'm a bit prone to hyperbole (or at the very least overuse of superlatives), I don't think I'm exaggerating at all when I tell you that it was just AWESOME.

The highlight for me was the macaw sighting on Friday morning. But I can't complain about the chigüires (capybara - the world's largest rodent), the Martín Pescador (a type of Kingfisher), the small crocodiles, the beautiful stork, the water buffalo, the owls, the butterflies or the stunning green plains either. On top of that, we were the only guests at the lodge for most of our time there, so we got the full attention of the guides on all of our outings. The experience comes highly recommended.

Here are some of my favorite photos...