Florida: Everglades: Exploring the Diverse Flora and Fauna

Begin your Everglades adventure at Lake Okeechobee south of Orlando. The best way to get around these shallow waters, which are covered by grasses that harbor indigenous wildlife, is by airboat, a propeller boat ideal for cutting through the lake without disturbing its ecosystem. If you want to view wildlife free of airboat noise, visit the Pearce Homestead and Kissimmee Prairie State Reserve.

The Everglades provide many opportunities for seeing plants and animals up close. The best include the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, an excellent center for learning about the area’s history and preservation, complete with hiking and canoe trails, and the Everglades National Park, 1.5 million acres that can be navigated by boat, canoe, kayak, and bicycle. Came to see reptiles? Make sure to spend plenty of time in Loxahatchee, where you’ll find the highest concentration of alligators south of Lake Okeechobee.

If you’re more interested in history than gators, discover the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation and Miccosukee Indian Reservation. Besides explaining how the tribes settled and were then forced to leave the area by the Indian Removal Act of 1830, they also offer swamp cuisine (frog legs and catfish) and boat tours. Near the Miccosukee Reservation lies another outstanding park, the Big Cypress Preserve, the perfect spot for glimpsing birds, orchids, and some of the remaining fifty panthers that still live in the wild. Despite the number of visitors it receives each year, the Everglades remains one of the few places in the U.S. to see animals in their natural environment and to appreciate the resources we have left.