Something Else: Llama Trekking

When I told my Chinese visitors that we were going trekking with llamas, she thought that I was talking about Tibetan monks. In Norfolk you don't expect llamas or lamas. Llamas are certainly more at home in the Andes, where they are used as pack animals, than in East Anglia, but that does not stop Norfolk farmer Bruce Wright from keeping four Snowdonian males. He uses them to carry champagne picnics on his four-hour guided walks through Thetford Forest. Why llamas? 'They are pleasant, intelligent and alert animals and, contrary to popular belief, they don't spit at humans,' Wright explains.

The llamas were taller than I expected, a cross between a camel (to which they are related) and a sheep. I was put in charge of Jose, at three years the only adult among the group. 'You can stroke his neck, but don't touch his face,' Bruce warned, handing me the rein. Jose was white-fleeced and distinguished, striding ahead with his nose in the air, looking down haughtily on his younger colleagues, Carlos, Miguel and Pedro.

Children (who are not allowed to ride the llamas) apparently love their habit of relieving themselves in unison, after sniffing out a spot which they have used before.

Jose's main problem was his tendency to take unscheduled snack stops from temptingly overhanging branches. 'Walk on,' I was supposed to insist, two of the few words he understood. But I couldn't resist my own admonition: 'No way Jose'.

Wellington Lodge Llama Trekking, Brandon Rd, Northwold, near Thetford, Norfolk (0842 878181). pounds 67 for four adults (includes champagne lunch)

(Photograph omitted)