How to describe Wanderlight Alpaca Experience’s newest offering, Alpaca Quest? The popular Lakefield-area business offers some excellent agritourism experiences, like the Private Alpaca Walk that provides guests a chance to commune with a loveable group of alpacas. Alpaca Quest, though, is the first of its kind—best think of it as a time-travelling outdoor escape room, with alpacas.
“My idea was a combination escape room-style game and alpaca walk. I researched this, and found no other one in existence in the world!” Owner Katie Jackson laughs. She had a vision for an interactive experience that would make unique use of her property’s serene farm trails outside of the standard alpaca walk. She lacked the game design experience to create satisfying puzzles on her own, however, so she reached out to the experts.
The family-run business Escape Maze specializes in creating themed experiences based on the history of Peterborough County, so they were a natural fit for Katie’s idea. Rather than draw on local stories, this time their assignment took them much further afield, drawing inspiration from the Incas of 16th century Peru.
The Incas treasured and protected alpacas, so Katie suggested making them the protagonists of a story about time-travelling alpaca guardians seeking to save their animals from a group of relentless hunters. In the narrative that emerged, the guardians sent alpacas through a portal to the future, along with some cryptic clues to help modern-day players save the day.
Escape Maze supplied the expertise to build logical but challenging puzzles, while Katie and her collaborators created the necessary materials and executed the plan. Guests begin with just a backpack loaded with supplies, then journey across farm and forest trails to each puzzle station. When guests find the time-travelling alpacas, they’re rewarded for their efforts by walking with them back to “safety.” The total experience typically takes about 1.5-2 hours, thanks to some carefully calibrated design.
Before Alpaca Quest launched on June 29, Katie reflected on the enormous amount of work it had taken to orchestrate: “We’ve cleared trails, we’ve moved wood chips—we’ve done some more classified things that if you ever come and do the maze you will see.” Fortunately, she had some support in putting the new experience together. A “Spark” Innovation grant, offered by the Tourism Innovation Lab in collaboration with Peterborough & the Kawarthas Economic Development (PKED), provided the necessary funding and mentorship to get this unorthodox project off the ground. PKED’s goal is to help generate word of mouth that will bring new visitors to the region, and Alpaca Quest promises to speak to guests looking for something hands-on, collaborative, and fun.
“I love partnering with other local businesses, I love to promote and celebrate everything this area has to offer,” Katie says. That extends not just to partnering with Escape Maze, but to an optional add-on that includes an al fresco dining experience. Hungry adventurers will dine not just on locally sourced food, but use tableware made by local artisans as well.
Katie’s confident that the Venn diagram of people who enjoy nature walks, communing with animals, and playing games together with keep Alpaca Quest running well into the fall. Depending on the weather and the difficulty of keeping trails accessible, a winter ‘Quest may be in the offing as well. An alpaca-themed escape room may sound unlikely, but once you get a look at Wanderlight’s soulful, curious alpacas, the urge to play and explore is hard to resist.
Visit these links to book an experience at Wanderlight Alpaca Experience or Escape Maze
