Les lamas du Miradou – there are llamas in the Alps

This experience is something different from what we have done before. You already know that here at Charcotrip we like to come up with new things and this time we are not going to visit a monument or a museum, no, this time we will show you a llama farm! And without having to go to Peru! I have to say I was skeptical when I signed up for the tour, I thought: llamas in the Alps? If it’s real, we have to see it. So, we will show you in this article, what a visit to Les lamas du Miradou in the French Alps is like.

Arriving at “Les lamas du Miradou”

For this visit, we had to make the poor car work since it was in the mountains, at about 1600 m altitude. We did plenty of laps, and it was very funny to see how the landscape and the weather changed: it went from cloudy to being among the clouds to being so high that you could see the sun and the sky clear. The bad thing is that it didn’t last long because the clouds reached us.

First we arrive at the meeting point, the reception. Philippe received us there, very kindly, together with two people who would also make the visit, we got into his truck and headed towards the place where the llamas were.

The visit to “Les lamas du Miradou” in the Alps

To begin with, Phillipe gave us a talk about the origin of the llamas (in case you didn’t know they are cousins of the Camels), very interesting. The bad thing is that during the talk, the clouds reached us, so the photos that follow are all with clouds.

After the talk, comes the first phase of coexistence with the llamas girls. And yes, they are girls because the ones we made the visits with were pure females, the males stay on the other side because if they don’t, they start fighting among themselves or something like that.

Living with “Les lamas du Miradou”

First phase: feeding them

For them to begin to gain confidence, oh well, we have to bribe them… with food.

Second phase: brushing them

For us to continue being friends, we move on to a very pleasant stage for them, which is brushing. Little by little, we begin to realize that we can fill a pillow with what is left in the brush.

Of course, as much confidence as we have with them, we must not think that we are already saved from being spit by a llama, we must always be attentive to the signs.

Third phase: make them pretty to go around

After feeding and brushing them, the experience also included a walk up the mountain with them. But first, you had to make them presentable, and each person also chose her friend’s little llama to walk together.

The walk begins by making them leave the farm, they don’t always want to, as you can see.

And once everyone was out of the farm, we started the walk.

A funny fact: when you are walking with animals that eat grass, you have to be aware that sometimes they will want to bend down to eat grass and that they will pull you, so you will not be surprised.

And along the way, we reached a point where we took many photos of our four-legged friends.

There was a very funny stage of the walk: there is a part of the road where the llamas pass and they aaaaaaaaaaaaaall have to pee or poop to mark their territory. They were in line and one peed and then another passed and shit, and so on.

And after an hour or so of slow walking, we returned to the farm, the llamas were happy to be back.

In short: a VERY NICE visit, would I go back? The answer is yes. I loved living with the little llamas, and the people in charge of Les lamas du Miradou are very cool.

Tell us about your experiences with “out of the ordinary” animals. In my case, the llamas were something very unusual, but very, very nice.