I got an early Christmas present last week as I witnessed for the first time of my life a true NATURAL LLAMA BIRTH, in the middle of my trip to our new project in Tucsa.
It is summer down here in he Andes, although saying that just does not feel right because most days it is colder than usual with all the raining and snow and hailing that goes on in this specific season. Even though this happens every year it is also hard to realize that most animals here in the Andes give birth in this particular season also! I always seem to take this for granted, as I never really got the chance to witness this happening around me quite often. But last week I was visiting the new Tucsa Juchuy Mallq’I Library project. The day was as rainy and snowy as it could get. It was freezing temperatures and beside the roads you could already see the snow covered mountain from the weather.
Luckily for me I hitched a ride on a pickup truck for that day alongside the president of the community of Tucsa and his son Pio. We were chatting and lauching at how hard the road was to drive with all the mud and water in it, and there after a corner we saw a llama giving birth, in the middle of this completely wet freezing day! We stopped quickly and looked, I was so impressed I didn’t even think of reaching my camera at first. Then realized THIS IS AMAZING the small snow white llama came out and fell in to the mud and cold weather, but hey this is their environment right? It could not get up so Pio quickly went up and helped her stand, she shook a few times and finally got to stand by her self. A few seconds after the mom showed up and was about to spit on us (as self defense). Time for us to leave with another great story to tell. by: Yannick Wende.
cool story Yannick, wish I had been there!