We all have some interest in llamas and alpacas, yet some of you may not be completely aware of the essential role they played in kick-starting Andean societies. Without them there would have been no Machu Picchu, nor could Andean people have survived at such high...
Country Life 9:40 pm on 15 September 2017 A large herd of llamas live on Keith Payne’s 30-hectare hill property tucked into the secluded Blythe Valley in North Canterbury. His is one of only two guanaco studs outside South America. Several of Keith’s...
When I commenced my research into the history of llamas a number of years ago, I was at first surprised that the word for llama in both Quechua and Aymara is “KARA”. As the indigenous people did not have a written language, this was expressed in english by the...
He didn’t have a name, but if a name had been appropriate he would be called Pacha Kuyuy, the Quechua word for earthquake. An hour after he was born, a mighty quake had rattled through the Andes. That was 8 years ago. Today he had been awake, on alert, for most of the...
