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Walking with Silver Edition Alpakas

Florian Buechting Entertain & Relax No Comments

Silver Edition Alpakas

45 EUR
Silver Edition Alpakas
3.9

Rating

 3.9/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Nice experience
  • Very friendly and knowledgeable guides
  • Rather long duration

Flyctory.com Cons

  • Lengthy promotion at the end
  • No signage to the farm

Having a hike with alpacas? This kind of free time activity becomes more and more popular, in Germany. Organizers argue that it is relaxing and stress relieving and combine that with an – at least limited – athletic activity. After my wife gave me this experience as a Christmas present, we finally turned this one into activity in October 2024. The provider we had was Silver Edition Alpakas in the West of Germany, close to the Dutch border. Here is my review.

 

Silver Edition Alpakas – Location & Admission

Silver Edition Alpakas is located in Kevelaer, a town in Nordwest Northrine-Westphalia in Germany. In fact, the farm where the mammals are living is quite on the countryside, East of the town. It is in fact a farm and there is no advertisement or signage, neither along the small roads leading there nor at the farm itself. Thus, we were not fully sure if we hit the right spot when we arrived at the grounds. It is practically impossible visiting Silver Edition Alpakas by public transport. Going there by car is quite convenient, as it is just a short drive away from the motorway (A57, Sonsbeck exit). There is sufficient potential to park your car.

Silver Edition Alpakas typically offers two hiking dates a week, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. You should pre-book before. However, it is an animal experience and alpacas are rather sensitive. Thus, there is a rather reasonable potential that it is too warm for them or too rainy. You should thus not plan a trip around this experience. We had two rebookings due to these kind of issues. The tour experience costs 45 EUR per person. You should rather say per animal, as you can book additional companions without an additional alpaca for 20 EUR. Silver Edition Alpakas allows you to change the role of the person, who is leading the animal during the hike.

 

Silver Edition Alpakas – The Visit

Our tour was at 14:30. I did not like the check-in procedure. There was a closed date until some 14:20 (and as said no sign…), which I did not feel to be that friendly. They als felt to have some organisational issues. First, the group is gathered, giving some general information about the animals, how the tour is working out and how you should behave towards them. Then, the alpacas are assigned to the people who are guiding them. The Silver Edition Alpakas team thereby also assigns the animal according to the persons, i.e. if there are kids with you or if they feel you are resilient for the rather stronger ones.

 

Thereafter the tour is beginning. You run in one line (to keep the group’s hierarchy) and have a rope as a leash to walk with your alpaca. The tour is about 3.5 km long and split into two stages. Most of the route are country lanes and small streets, there is also a forest section. Suitable shoes are helpful. In the middle of the tour, there is a some 15 minute break so that the alpacas can graze at a certain meadow. They shall not grab grass along the route, though, due to the usage of pesticides. The tour is suitable for kids as well, they should rather be companions in my point of view, though.

The route is not spectacular, but it is a nice countryside hike. It is interesting to see the different behavior of the alpacas. Mine, for example, was a rather strong character, I also was finally allowed to bypass some other participants as it reduced his will being quicker. On the other hand, Sarah’s Maurice was a relaxed guy, rather causing delays on the group than pushing for a quicker speed towards the delicious grass. Back at the farm, we had the opportunity to visit the female alpacas (hikes are done with the male ones only) and their foals

 

Silver Edition Alpakas – Services

As said, the staff was very friendly and knowledgeable. They also told you a lot about the animals and gave you a safe and comfortable feeling. Before and after the tour, you could use the guest toilet of the farm. After the tour, there are some drinks (coffee, hot chocolate, water) and some sweets, where you got additional information about alpaca wool. Most of these things has been told during the tour, though. This part was a bit of lengthy and had a bit too much promotional touch, as you could also buy products, from soap and socks to some souvenirs.

 

Silver Edition Alpakas – My View

Overall, I liked the trip. The way back from the grazing lawn to the farm felt a bit of lengthy to me, though. I also did not like the check-in and the too promotional coffee round. This leads to some reduction in my rating. The whole event took almost three hours (the hike itself was slightly more than half of that), which made it even longer than I expected. Silver Edition Alpakas also offers other experiences like picnics with alpacas, which might be less sensitive to weather conditions, by the way.

 

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