We discovered the splendid Malcantone region with Fabrizio, Nikolai (aka Dodo) and Cappuccino. Our excursion with llamas was an unforgettable experience, especially for children.
After another great nights sleep we began the day I had been excited about for weeks as it began with llama trekking!! Eeeek!!!
Alessandra had organised the excursion with Mr Hanspeter who speaks French, German and Italian but I am pretty sure those only speaking English could manage too. From her description, we built up a picture of him being similar to the uncle in the story Heidi and expected to be a bit intimidated by him.
In fact, Mr Hanspeter was one of my favourite people ever!! He explained a bit about how to handle the llamas (not much to it really, just that they don’t like having their ears touched and that we should try and stay in front of them). Jude was handed his own Llama to manage named Cappuccino, I had Fabrizio, Jean had Nikolai and Alba was sagely reserving her judgement! :-).
The trek started off quite steeply on a rocky path so we were glad we put Elio in the baby carrier as a pushchair would have been impossible. The llamas are very charming, funny animals and eat constantly so we heard Jude shouting “stop eating Cappuccino » frequently as he got the hang of it but after a while he learned how to manage him and took control.
My llama was quite headstrong and I had to walk quickly to keep up with him on occasion and there were a few funny moments when he’d appear suddenly next to me and breathe hotly in my ear making me jump. Alba was starting to get very curious by this time so Jean gave her the lead of Nikolai and she was so excited to manage her own llama who she decided to call “Dodo”. It was funny watching this tiny girl delightedly skipping along next to him chatting and giggling “come on Dodo”. She certainly showed him who was boss!
The walk took us up to a beautiful church with spectacular views across the lake and mountains so we stopped for a moment to enjoy the sun on our faces before we continued on our way. We lost track of time but we must have been walking for about an hour and a half through forests and more gentle tracks. Some of it was quite steep so we had to pick Alba up while she maintained the reigns as she wasn’t going to give up her new bff in a hurry.
Jude took a bit of a tumble on one of the rocky slopes so it was a good thing we had some plasters and antiseptic wipes handy and he soon cheered up when we were introduced to the chicks and a huge dusty pig called Pigeldy back at the farm. Mr Hanspeter is wonderful. We all fell in love with him and gladly accepted his offer of a drink at his house when we had finished. We were sad to leave and could have whiled away the afternoon chatting in the calm of the little oasis he has created.
This has been one of my all time favourite experiences and one we’ll still be talking about in years to come. I’m a country girl at heart, and love meeting new animals whereas Jean is a bit more reserved and is soon reaching for his hand sanitiser, but even he was under the charm of these quirky beasts. If you are visiting the area, you have to do it!
Back to the car and we brushed our hair (well, not Jean obviously 🤪) and changed our shoes before we set off to visit Caslano which is a lovely lakeside town located on the eastern side of the lake.
Oh, remind me to tell you about the time Jean was cajoled into holding a baby meerkat in a local pub on his first trip to England to meet my family. Priceless!
Information
Parking : Yes
Toilets : Yes
Accessibility : Only with baby-carrier
Lama Trekking Sig. Hanspeter Frei 6993 Iseo +41 79 331 25 73 lama-trekking.lima-city.de/