In 2004 a small intrepid team of travellers made it to the remote mountain town of Ayaviri in Peru. Ayaviri is one of the more charming towns on the alti-plano, being the regional centre for the agricultural industry of that high mountain area. The Team arrived on time after travelling for thousands of miles from various parts of the world for a planned meeting with the senior directors of the largest agricultural business in the region and owners of the largest herd of alpacas in the world. Unfortunately it just happened to be the day of the bull fight when they arrived at their offices.

After a considerable amount of banging and shouting at the gates of the company offices a watchman opened the huge security gates and informed the Team that everyone was at the bull fight. Securing the services of two athletic young men and their well decorated bicycle rickshaws the Team directed that they be taken to the town showground. Fortunately for the aforementioned rickshaw drivers this was on a large open plain and all down hill from the centre of the town. A very small amount of money having changed hands the Team were delivered to the rear of a mountainous scaffolding structure through which ran numerous ladders to the various levels on which the good townsfolk were perched in their ‘boxes’ to watch the main events of the day. After making certain enquiries of the traders plying their wares, rather similar to any British football match, the Team were directed to the most expensive end and shown where their quarry were ensconced.

At this stage, towards the end of the last event of the day, it was quite clear that the directors were not keen to hold an important business meeting, no matter how far people had travelled to meet them. Considerable Chicha (a local brew, not recommended for the faint hearted) had no doubt been consumed and how some of them made it down the rickety ladder to the ground can only be marvelled at. The Team were given a warm welcome but warned that although Ayaviri is generally regarded as a safe and friendly town this particular day was probably not the day for the Team to be seen wandering the streets and that they really should get back to the centre of town and their hotel before the crowds descended from their various perches and staggered home. The meeting was postponed until early the next morning.

At the prescribed hour, very early, the team made their way to the offices at which they had had such difficulty the previous evening gaining entrance. This time the gates were swung open with alacrity and they were escorted with style to the office of the Top Man and his fellow directors. Despite the early hour and the copious amounts of Chicha consumed the previous evening everyone seemed to be on top form and business was soon commenced.

The aim of the Team was to obtain some of the very best alpacas that the company were prepared to part with for an import to Britain. But one of their principal objectives was to secure the very best quality male that was available. To this end they had taken stacks of marketing material about the existing stud males in the UK to demonstrate what sort of competition there was to be beaten if the Company were to make their name in Europe. The Company’s principal competition had recently sold some stud males into the UK and these were being heavily marketed with beautiful glossy material. On being shown this material there was general mirth and a short conversation was conducted sotto voce in very swift Spanish and very shortly the Team and the Directors descended from the office to meet up with their various transport to head off on to the high alti-plano.

Thus began five days of hard work at great height. The team were shown thousands of animals and as the days progressed the Directors appreciated that these Gringos had very high standards and were not prepared to accept anything other than the very best. But this story is about an alpha male called Wiracocha and so let us move swiftly to the third day when the Team were to be found in the pens of one of the Company’s stations at about 4,500 metres going through various females and males that were being presented to them.

The Team consisted of four people, each with their own expertise, but all very experienced in alpacas and in the skills of selection. One of their number was responsible for the photography and at one stage he had backed off to his camera bag in order to change lenses while the others continued to bury their heads in the fleeces of the animals in the pen. While carrying out this simple task the photographer fellow could enjoy looking around the spectacular views which are the back drop to this beautiful area. In the far distance he noticed a lone stockman coming down off the mountainside driving a single alpaca. He looked again because even at this great distance there was something different about this particular animal – he seemed not to walk like others but rather he was strutting as if he was about to enter a show ring and wanted everyone to know that he was the best. After watching this for a few minutes, and as the stockman and his lone alpaca got closer, the photographer invited the rest of the Team to stop burying their heads in fleece and to look up the mountainside to witness the arrival of this pair. Everyone stopped what they were doing as it was obvious something rather special was about to arrive in the cantonment.

The stockman arrived at the pen in which about 50 young males were standing and put his charge into it. By now everyone was staring at this apparition including all the young males in the pen. Very quickly the young males averted their eyes and backed off as the new arrival took up an aggressive pose at the front of the pen. Cameras were brought out to record the arrival of this male but it was only the humans that were staring. All the young males were trying to find a space that did not inhibit El Macho. El Macho was putting out signals, which even the humans could read, that this space was his and that no alpaca was even to think about invading it. 

The Directors introduced El Macho to the Team as Wiracocha. One of the Team, a highly experienced Peruvian Camelid vet, looked in awe at him and stated that she had known of this animal for many years, he was well known throughout the entire alti-plano and that she remembered him winning ‘Grand Champion’ at Arequipa many years before. ‘He’ she told the Team ‘is a legend in the industry’.

With growing respect for this ‘legend’ the Team descended on him to inspect his fleece and to admire his other qualities. The Top Man told the Directors that this male was 13 years of age and his fleece quality was still that of an outstanding young male. A quick look in the mouth certainly confirmed his age and just a cursory look in his fleece confirmed the qualities to be found in that. A longer look told an amazing story – this fleece would be really special in an alpaca of three years of age let alone one of 13 summers. Fine, dense and still with stacks of character this fleece had a wonderful staple length and was uniform throughout in all its qualities. But above all, El Macho had presence like no other. He stood with his chest out daring anyone to challenge his authority.

Wiracocha was born of unknown parents back in the days when El Sendero Luminoso (The Shining Path terrorists) were still rampant in the mountains. Many of the largest herds had been dispersed by the actions of these unscrupulous Maoist terrorists and it was a wonder that any breeding programmes had been sustained during those traumatic times. However somehow an outstanding male had been selected to cover one of the Company’s best females and the result of the pairing was a male that was genetically predisposed to grow a dense, fine fleece over many years. Of course in 2003 there were no records to tell anyone which alpacas had produced this outstanding male back in those troubled times.

At about the same time that Wiracocha was born President Fujimori took over as President of the Republic of Peru and set about clearing out the scourge of the Shining Path terrorist movement. In September1992 his security forces trapped the leader of these bandits, Abimael Guzmán, and in one stroke just about destroyed this malaise that had brought 30,000 deaths and such misery and financial ruin to this wonderful but very poor region. Thus by the time he was three years of age Wiracocha could be taken by truck down to various shows to demonstrate his qualities in competition with his peer group. At this he was so successful that he found himself at the most prestigious show in the world in Arequipa. Here a relatively youthful Dr Julio Sumar was judging the various champions from all over the alti-plano and after three days of judging Wiracocha was selected as Grand Champion. It was here that he first made his name and a very youthful vet who was part of the Team saw him for the first time in her life.

There was no question but that the Team were determined to take him home but considerable discussion had to take place at which substantial sums were discussed and the Company were reminded of their wish to make a statement about their qualities in Europe. Eventually a deal was struck and Wiracocha was secured for Great Britain. It was to take another 12 months before he was to leave Peru. During this time he continued to live on the alti-plano, together with his son and a number of other alpacas that had been selected to travel down to the quarantine station prior to their long journey to Europe.

If anyone thinks that exporting from Peru is easy they should try it; providing they have endless patience, good contacts, fluent Spanish and a certain amount of spare time and money. It was to be a whole year later that they were eventually clear to travel and they were flown in a wide bodied cargo carrier to Geneva and from there to their temporary home above Lausanne where they had to become Swiss citizens for six months to enable them to be qualified to travel into the EU. Eventually in January 2005 they were eligible to travel and thus could leave their temporary home with its 2 metres of snow for warmer climes in Wiltshire.

Thus Wiracocha arrived at Alpacas of Wessex, now aged 13 but still with a micron of 22, where he runs alongside males from many different countries and some of the world’s most prestigious blood lines and where he has since been introduced to many females from around the UK and Europe. Some of these girls have also done the same sort of journey from Peru, some from Chile and many from either Australia or the USA. He has brought with him characteristics that were unknown in Europe and already his progeny are showing signs of his strong genetic strengths. They stand like him, they have enormous presence and their fleece qualities and conformation are potential show winners. We all hope he will live forever but we all know that realistically he must one day go to that great grazing in the sky – meanwhile he will leave behind thousands of his offspring in the Company’s herd in Peru and we hope a few hundred perhaps of his offspring in Europe. That will be his legacy to the world and all those who will have met him will have been fortunate to have known an alpaca whose qualities are just about that of the perfect alpaca. His spirit, his influence and his progeny will live on. He has indeed the qualities of a legend.

This article first appeared in the BAS Alpaca Magazine