The Everglades, located in Florida, make up a subtropical wetland region that is ripe for exploration. Visitors to the area will be enthralled by the local plants and wildlife; there are more than 1,000 different plant species in the area, as well as endangered and rare animals like the American crocodile, Florida panther, and West Indian manatee. It’s not at all difficult to find tours that will take you through the most interesting areas of the Everglades and point out whatever you are looking forward to seeing. Some of the most popular ways to tour the area include kayak, airboat, and tram tours, and you can also find bicycle and walking tours. Here are some of the fascinating tour experiences available in the Everglades.
- Everglades Day Safari. The Everglades Day Safari tour company offers a full day tour in four parts. There’s the airboat ride through the sawgrass prairies and pond apple sloughs where you might spot a great blue heron, feral pigs, or an American alligator. This is followed by a 90 minute boat ride through the waters around the Ten Thousand Islands, a mangrove estuary. Look around you to see West Indian manatees and bottlenose dolphins. Before the second half of the safari, you’ll stop for a lunch that includes an appetizer of Gator Nuggets. Then you’ll resume the tour with a wildlife drive through the sawgrass prairies. Here you should keep your eyes open for swamp lilies, black bears, and pygmy rattlesnakes. Finish off the day with a nature walk in the cypress swamp area, where you may catch a glimpse of red shouldered hawks or maybe a Florida panther.
- Everglades Area Tours. Everglades Area Tours does it all. Take a guided walking or bicycling ECO tour, a power boat ECO tour, a full day sea kayaking tour, or an overnight camping trip made complete by a canoe and sea kayaking tour. If you’re looking for a couples activity, they also offer sunset and full moon paddle tours through the mangrove tunnels. The company’s most popular tour is the boat-assisted kayak ECO tour, which begins with a boat ride to the center of the Everglades National Park, then switches to a kayak that is quiet and unobtrusive enough to allow you to get close enough to really see and appreciate the native wildlife. You’ll finish off with a walking tour of a tidal zone located on a small, remote beach.
- Tram Tour through Everglades National Park. If you have limited time to spend, the two-hour tram tour is a quick way to get a good look at the landscape and wildlife while you learn all about what you’re seeing from the informative guides. At the halfway point, you’ll stop at an observation deck where you’ll have the chance to really take in the stunning scenery. Be sure to bring your camera, because you’ll want to capture this memory for good.
There are a lot of ways to see the Everglades, and you can choose which way best suits your schedule and desires. The important thing is that you do get to see them, because a trip to South Florida is incomplete without a tour of this natural wonder.
