Robin Grimwood

Safari Expert

Robin has travelled South America extensively; his first trip was in 1998 when he visited Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. There was no stopping him after his passion for Latin America was sparked, notching up about 11 visits to (and around) the region; countries include Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Argentina and Brazil!

Favourite Destinations:  Machu Picchu because the location is amazing, once I was lucky enough to see two condors cross each other in front of Huayna Picchu – the mountain behind the citadel. Iguazu falls, for the noise of the water and the sheer, awe-inspiring magnitude. The Orinoco in Venezuela; this is where you can meet Guarao Indians and see pink Dolphins in the River. Quilotoa in Ecuador – a volcanic crater filled with emerald green waters and surrounded by snow-capped Andean peaks and Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. It’s the highest salt lake in the world and in the wet season the landscape is spectacularly mirrored!

Best Travel Experience: Completing the Inca trail to Machu Picchu was amazing, as was getting close to the wildlife of the Galapagos Islands.  Crossing the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia was unforgettable and I managed to catch more Piranhas than a local Fisherman, while fishing in the Orinoco River!

Worst Travel Experience: The capital of Venezuela, Caracas, is a busy, chaotic, concrete jungle. We arrived by a local bus and were dropped in the centre of the chaos.  I had swotted-up about how to get to the Long distance Bus station; however I can’t really say things went to plan.  Firstly the bus had dropped us off in the wrong place; we finally found the Metro Station and travelled to where we thought we would find the bus station. That was also wrong, so we found a taxi who would take us there only to find out it had been demolished, luckily the buses still did terminate there! It was very hot and humid as we wandered, fresh faced, around a place notorious for thieves and pick pockets, for what seemed like hours, trying to find the right bus.  It wasn’t looking too hopeful as the locals looked just as confused as us!  We did eventually find the bus we needed, but what really stays in the mind, was one particularly helpful local man, dressed in smart attire, asking the question, “Lost in Caracas?”, when we replied, “Yes”, he laughed and said “Not good!”.