Llama Caravan

Since time immemorial, the man from the Andes has been using the llamas as a means of transportation through the harsh terrain of the mountains and the high plain. These singular animals were used to transport commercial goods apart from being used as warm clothes because of their fiber, as food because of their meat and as fuel and fertilizer because of their guano.

Nowadays in Tilcara there is an attempt to recreate that ancestral activity by walking along the different paths of the area, which lead to old ruins, salt deposits, valleys, ravines and volcanoes.

To live this amazing experience, visitors need to contact guide Santos Manfredi, who has been developing the activity in Tilcara for some time in order to set up a unique and excellent product, committed to social and ecological issues.

This is a hiking tour of different levels of difficulty and duration around the most remote spots in the Northern Argentina. The tour can take half a day, all day or several days, sleeping in different native communities. While enjoying the experience, visitors can learn about the ancient local culture and feel the spirit that surrounds the mounts and this divine animal.

It is necessary to emphasize that llamas can not be ridden as horses. They are used to carry the tour luggage. All tours include good quality camping equipment, abundant delicious food, good wine, and, of course, the llamas.

Among the most important caravans guided by Santos Manfredi, there is the one that gets to Pucará de Juella and takes half a day. In this caravan, people walk on a dry river bed which has an excellent view of geographical features like mountains and hills of different shades that can be found only in the north. Once in the archeological site, the members of the expedition get lost amidst the cardons to observe the remains of vessels and foundations of what used to be an important native city.

Another interesting choice is to hire a llama caravan to go to Salinas Grandes. Panoramic views of the whole Humahuaca Ravine may be observed during this tour. Once in the salt deposits, visitors feel like real Bedouins and pitch their tents to sit in the shade and have a deserved picnic surrounded by 45,000 hectares of salt.

For those who enjoy this activity, Santos Manfredi has developed a singular product. It is the llama caravan around the Valleys of Tilcara. Visitors can hire the caravan all the year round and it lasts 4 days and 3 nights in all. The trip includes visiting the inhabitants of the Abramayo Valley community, hiking across the Mal Paso Ravine and crossing the higher peek, 4,850 m.a.s.l., towards the Punta Corral Sanctuary. Altitude sickness is treated with “coca”, sacred leaf (venerated for thousands of years) that let visitors to walk around the mounts without feeling sick. All in all, this experience is hard to explain. One just has to feel it.

Food and drinks are included in all the caravans.

Options are varied. Each caravan is thought and developed to satisfy the expectations of those who decide to join it. To spend some days with the llamas is an unforgettable experience.