Woolly fur, big brown cuddly eyes and a friendly look: It doesn’t take a minute to close alpacas in your heart ❤ Hiking with alpacas is a very special adventure that can be experienced here in the Moselle region.
Table of contents
Things to know about the village Lieser
To get to the alpaca farm in Lieser, you have to pass through the wine village Lieser on the Moselle (location in Google Maps). The village has about 1,300 inhabitants and is located in the middle of the largest contiguous wine-growing area of the Moselle, in the Bernkastel-Kues region. Particularly impressive is the two thousand-year-old wine-growing tradition, which the village can look back on. It is not for nothing that Lieser is one of the largest picturesque wine-growing towns on the Moselle, with a wine-growing area of more than 180 hectares.
An optical highlight in the village is the Schloss Lieser, where we made a short stop. The castle was built between 1884 and 1887 for the winery owner Eduard Puricelli in the style of the German Renaissance. After several changes of ownership, the castle opened in 2019 as a luxury hotel under Marriott’s Autograph Collection brand after about 10 years of extensive renovations.
Lieser Castle on the Moselle
The Alpaca Farm Abayomi-Lieser
At the very end of Lieser, when the official roads have already stopped and you only have dirt roads in front of you, there is the small alpaca farm Abayomi-Lieser. This African name means “friendly meeting” – and better it could not describe what awaits us here 🙂
When we parked our car in front of the enclosure, Katrin, who runs the farm together with Silke, greeted us with joy and welcomed us. Together we went to the pasture, where she told us a bit about her alpaca herd. We were able to get to know the animals at a distance and get a taste of them. One has to know that alpacas are escape and distance animals, i.e. they do not like body contact and no caresses. It is really difficult for the golden animals to accept this. Even when you look into the big cuddly eyes, it’s about one – plus the fluffy fur and the beautiful “Puschel” hairstyle on your head. Just sugar-sweet ❤
Katrin gave us a lot of interesting information about the individual alpacas, the herd and their attitude. It is also very interesting that they offer various programs of animal-assisted healing education with their alpacas. For example, often integrative school classes come to the pasture to interact with the animals, to get to know the stable care, etc. Since Katrin is a physiotherapist and Bobath child therapist from her home, the offer is also very well received. In addition, the typical alpaca hikes are offered, which can be booked alone or in a group. For example, a 2-hour hike for 2 people costs EUR 20 per person (as of July 2020).
Our hike with the alpacas
After we got a lot of information, we were able to get started. First of all, all alpacas got something to eat so that they are not all too hungry on the walk together 🙂
When everyone was strengthened, we picked out five alpacas that accompanied us on the walk. Katrin went ahead with two alpacas and we both got Pepper, Pippin and Silas.
During the 2.5 km long walk we walked side by side with the cuddly animals, watched them eat and could see them up close. The area around the Alpaca Farm is very quiet and insanely idyllic. Really perfect to switch off and enjoy the closeness to the animals. Time and again we stopped for a little food stop – the fresh grass is too attractive for the animals to just walk by. During the walk you noticed that each animal has its own character. Pepper, for example, was a little more lively and Silas was the calm in person and a little selfie star. Taking a photo with him was no problem at all and you had the feeling that he even made a nice pose for it 😉
Back in the pasture, we had enough time to ask Katrin more questions, watch the alpacas and take beautiful souvenir photos. Finally, we can say that such an alpaca hike is an insanely great experience that we will remember for a very long time!
Our hike with alpacas on the Moselle