Chasing alligators

Davie, FL

I started my day at Flamingo Botanical Gardens and Wild Life Sanctuary, just 10 minutes or so from my campsite. This is one of the oldest botanic gardens and attractions in Florida, and you can tell by the size of the trees. It was started originally as an orange grove in 1927 by Floyd and Jane Wray when his real estate business failed during/after the depression.

Their home is on the property and has been preserved in the way it was furnished in the 1930’s. After Floyd died, Jane turned it over to a Foundation to preserve and it has morphed into a botanical garden and Everglades Wildlife Sanctuary. They care for animals and birds that can not be returned to the wild because of their injuries and work with endangered species of plants and animals to try to perpetuate the species.

The gardens were quite magical, and the displays well done and educational. They hope to use the species on display as ambassadors, educating people as to the impact humans have on the natural habitat and the need for maintaining some wild habitat.

Next I was off to a couple of different air boat places. I couldn’t decide between them, so I went on excursions with both of them. First up was at the Sawgrass Recreation Park. They have open air boats, although they are pretty big and lower to the water than the one I was on up at Lake Kanasoffkee. The guide was excellent and we did see a couple of alligators as well as lots of birds, including a young osprey. The time on the boat was only 30 minutes which went by really fast. They had some exotic animals, and reptiles on display, I guess in case they don’t see any alligators in the wild.

Then I headed off to Everglades Holiday Park about 10 minutes south. It is a more professional operation, with many more boats, and more marketing. (i.e. they gave away a free picture to every group). The boats however were covered in and it took away from the wind in your hair feeling of the other boats but on a rainy or cold day, however, the cover would be much appreciated. The guide was excellent and funny, and being out for an hour allowed him to to explain a lot more about the whole Everglades area (three distinct sections and this is the grasslands one), and the birds, plants and wildlife. It also seemed like this air boat also went much faster when he opened it up.

They also had a demonstration explaining alligators and the owner showed some alligator “wrestling” techniques requiring amazing courage and trust and knowledge of the animal. He was quite the character. He’s just recently bought 1000 alligators from a man running an alligator park in Louisiana who wants to retire and was going to sell them for several hundred thousand dollars for the meat and hides, but the owner of Everglades Holiday Park doesn’t want them destroyed and so is raising the money to buy them. He hasn’t figured out where to put them or how to get them there but he seems determined enough to do it.

I stopped before leaving to have some “gator bites”, like chicken fingers only gator. As I’m sure everyone says, it tasted like chicken.

Tonight there was an Irish singer/guitar player at the pool/bar area for a couple of hours and it was a nice evening to sit around chatting.