A few weeks ago, the bloke and I spent the morning walking alpacas with a small group of six others -courtesy of Alpaca Annie's in Kent, England. I had originally booked this for February, but we had terrible storms so our walk was cancelled. It worked out in the end because we had nice weather for our walk, even if it was a little windy. It also just happened that some friends in the area were available and wanted to meet up in the evening, so it all worked out perfectly for us.
When we arrived, we had a browse in the alpaca shop and the farm shop on site. There was a cafe on site too, but it was not open due to refurbishment. The shops are all located on and around the farm. When everyone in the tour had arrived, we were led into the farm enclosure and walked through one of the fields with young alpaca. The young alpaca were nosey and friendly; they approached us as we walked through their field.
A group of alpaca in all sorts of colours
An extremely friendly and cheeky young alpaca
When we arrived and waited outside of the alpaca fields, we were told a bit of information about alpaca and the farm. We were shown the different pens for the alpaca, such as the one we had just walked through filled with the young alpaca and their mothers in a further pen. We were introduced to the alpaca that we would be walking, all of which are males, and we were told that they had been settled into these walking tours as alpaca can be a little bit skittish. We were briefed a little on the safety and what to do or not do while we were walking our alpaca. Each alpaca also had its preference in placement in the walk; some preferred to lead the way and others preferred to stay behind. We were briefly told about each alpaca's personality when we each got to take our alpaca.
Our alpaca wait for walks
I got to take Toby out for a walk, and my partner took Fennel. All Toby wanted to do was eat while Fennel simply watched on and played 'the watchman' for the herd. Toby kept eating and eating and would have happily just stopped to eat the whole morning. He was also the first to need the toilet, and after he had gone, all of the others behind him decided that they needed to go too.
Toby eats while Fennel looks on
While we walked around the field, we were told alpaca facts. I did not hear many of these because we were in the middle of the queue, and the alpaca in front was slow to keep up at times. We were told that the owner wanted an alpaca, and the name "Alpaca Annie" comes from that, and the alpaca in front was the son of the first alpaca, and his name is "Legacy". We were also told alpaca history and that the Mayans had bred alpaca and that their wool was much more advanced/perfect than today's, but this has been lost through time. Breeders are now striving to get the quality back, and alpaca generally cost a lot of money but buyers must beware that the alpaca is pure alpaca and not bred with llama. There seems to be a fine art in alpaca raising.
Our guide talking to use while Legacy, the alpaca in front of me, eats
We stopped at our half-way point, and we got to feed the alpaca chopped carrots. The alpaca seem to sense that this is coming. Toby loved his carrots, and he ate them out of my hand.
Toby gets his photograph taken
After the carrots, we walked back toward the farm. It was a quieter trip back, but we were still told alpaca facts and history, and others were asking questions. The walk went smoothly, and no one had any problems with their alpaca. They were all well-behaved.
Fennel and others
Toby, Fennel, and other alpaca
At the end of the walk, our alpaca were herded back into their pen one at a time. For the first time, Fennel seemed to be interested in eating the grass, so I snapped a photograph of him eating.
Fennel
Alpaca walks
After our alpaca were safely in their pens, we were taken to the female alpaca enclosure, and the guide told us which alpaca were related to the ones we had walked. We were each given trays filled with chopped carrots so that we could feed the mother alpaca and the young alpaca in the pen next to them.
Alpaca go crazy for carrots
Alpaca herd
After we fed the carrots to the alpaca, we walked back to the farm building and were given our certificates to state that we had completed walking with the alpacas. The certificates had photographs of all of the alpacas, including the one that we walked with.
This was a fun day out. Have you had a walk with alpaca? Did you enjoy it? Leave me a comment.
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