We Took an Alpaca for a Walk in Paarl

August 2026

We took an alpaca for a walk in Cape Town! Well actually more than one alpaca, and it was at an alpaca farm near Cape Town, in Paarl, but still, what a lot of fun!

This sanctuary is called the Alpaca Loom and it’s in Paarl, about a 45 minute drive out of Cape Town.

I love animal experiences near Cape Town and am always looking or something new to explore. If that is also you, I really would suggest that you should plan a visit.

When we arrived it was a calm, clear beautiful, morning – we could see Table Mountain in the far, far distance, the sky was that clear.

First stop, take a momentous picture with your face as an alpaca!

What Can You do with the Alpacas

There are a few options you can choose from, some get you closer to the alpacas than others.

Petting Zoo

Once you exit the coffee shop, you walk outside into the petting zoo area. You do need to pay to get to the petting zoo but its only R20 per person, and if you want to feed them, the cost is only R30 a cup of food.

READ: Best Things to do With Kids in Cape Town

But it’s not only alpacas you can feed; there are funny-faced goats, llamas, and sheep. And there are also camels, donkeys and horses as well, but you can’t feed them. But they’re still good to look at and great for children who have never seen camels (or horses or donkeys) before.

Just watch out for the alpacas because they do spit – which is actually hilariously funny if you are not the one being spat on!

Alpaca Barn Tour

This is a tour down to the barn where you can visit the resident herd as well as the crias (young alpacas). This cost is R100 per adult and R70 per child, and it also includes entrance to the petting zoo (just not the food).

Alpaca Walk

This is what we choose to do, and I’ll talk about it in more detail below. The cost for this is R150 per person and is also 45 – 60 minutes but this was the most fun! This also includes entrance to the petting zoo (just not the food).

Get Your Tickets

When you arrive and enter the farm, you enter through the coffee shop and you can’t go further than this without paying for your chosen activity.

You can book in advance through their website, or you can get your tickets on arrival (you can pay by cash or card).

However, if you are going to do the alpaca walk, it is better to book in advance because they only do two walks a day at 10h00 and 16h00, and there’s a limited number of spaces per walk.

Let Me Tell You About Our Alpaca Walk

I think these are some of my new kinds of favourites! They are too cute, quite stubbon at times, but so sweet. And skittish.

On our walk, one of them slipped, or skidded slightly, on some loose stones – the others got a huge fright and tried to dash off! But they had told us what to do so all was good in the land of alpacas.

The walk starts at the coffee shop and the handler gets them kitted out with their gear. We were shown the dos and don’ts and how to handle them on the walk.

Then each of us were partnered up and handed a leash.

I got allocated a sweetie pie alpaca and I was told likes to be ‘skin-skin’ so to speak and will walk the whole way pushing up against my side. So as long as he could feel me there, he was fine. And that’s exactly what happened!

They are all different colours and they all had their own unique personality.

Then you head off on a walk around the farm, alpaca in tow, and led by the main handler. Up and around the small dam we went, we were told that one of them likes the water and if he got the chance would sit there all day!

We stopped and posed for some pictures with our alpacas, did another lap and then headed back to the coffee shop.

En route you do pass the barn and can see the main herd and the crias which were jsut jumping all over the show.

Once back at the coffee shop there’s a small obstacle course we each got to do with our alpacas, set up in such a way so they couldn’t hurt themselves, and they (or we) all passed with flying colours!

After saying goodbye, that wasn’t enough, so we got some animal food and went around the petting zoo and fed the animals. If you’re looking for unusual things to do near Cape Town, this is one of those things.

We were there for about two hours in total but we all had a great time and highly recommend this activity, especially if you are making a day exploring Paarl.

If you have small children there is also a jungle gym for them to play on, and you can order a cappuccino and muffin from the coffee shop while they play.

This is a great place to visit if you’re travelling around and looking for things to do in the Cape Winelands with kids.