St Patrick's day

Unfortunately we missed the biggest and best party of the year so we hear from the VSOs......but instead we were at Kuranambu Ranch. It's a working cattle ranch in the North Rupunini but is most famous for a lady called Diane McTurk who rescues orphaned Great Otters and cares for them until they can be released to the wild. It was perhaps the best experience so far. The place reminded me of Africa because it is not in the forest, it is in the savannah on the way the Lethem. We were met from the Intraserv (yes we braved the terrible journey again) and traveled 12 miles into the savannah passing vaqueros (horse riders) on the way. Our host stopped so we could see the local wildlife and we arrived at the ranch in time for lunch. Our benabs were great, big and airy and we ate with the family in a large dining/sitting room with a roof but open. You know how much we love being outside so this was wonderful for us. After a rest we headed off with 4 other guests from England to the Rupunini river where we got our first glimpse of the baby otters (Diane has 4 baby cubs at present that she is training) and started a four hour ride in a boat to see an amazing amount of animals and birds, of course. The fascinating part of this trip was sitting at dusk sipping rum punch and eating cookies watching the huge Victoria Amazonis opening. Yes we could actually see the lotus opening in the 20 - 30 minutes that we watched it. What a wonderful experience. Then as it grew very dark and the stars came out and the night noises started we cruised back to the ranch on the river with the magnificant guides finding snakes and owls and birds asleep in the trees for us to admire. The stars were overwhelming there was so many of them really you almost feel like crying when everything is just so peaceful and wonderful. St Patrick's day will always be remembered for this for us.