Everglades: discover the wild paradise one hour from Miami – 01/07/2024 – Tourism

The largest park in Florida doesn’t have Mickey or a princess, but rather crocodiles, manatees and a pink bird that looks like a mirage. And instead of roller coasters, the strong emotions are for a walk through the swamps, with water reaching up to your waist.

Welcome to Everglades National Park, a wild paradise an hour’s drive from Miami. Nicknamed the “river of grass”, the region brings together subtropical wetland ecosystems in a constant and slow flow of water, often invisible under prairies as far as the eye can see.

“Without a doubt we have the most charismatic characters in Florida,” says ranger Timothy Taylor, who has worked in the Everglades for 35 years.

Taylor loves to point out tourists to the manatees and alligators that visit the marina in Flamingo, a community on the southernmost tip of the contiguous United States where one of the park’s visitor centers is located.

In recent months, Flamingo has experienced a renaissance after years of suffering from precarious buildings damaged by hurricanes. First was the Guy Bradley Visitor Center, which opened in July. With charming pink modernist architecture, the new building houses exhibits on fauna, flora and the first inhabitants of the Everglades. There is also a small shop.

This is where the free birdwatching tours that Taylor and his colleagues lead in the mornings come from, with binoculars to borrow. The Everglades is one of the best places for this activity in the USA, as well as fishing and canoeing.

In November, the reporter saw more than 25 species of birds on a walk around the bay. We lost count of how many ospreys we saw, including birds in two nests. And we also saw an American spoonbill in flight, a spectacle of a bird with pink feathers and a flat, spoon-shaped beak.

Despite the name, there are no longer any flamingos in Flamingo. But the locals claim, without fisherman’s talk, that the most recent hurricane brought flamingos from Mexico that now inhabit Snake Bight, a bay that can only be reached by kayak.

Another new feature at Flamingo is a new hotel, the only one inside the park. The old one, which operated in the same location for almost 40 years, was closed and demolished after Hurricane Wilma, in 2005. To wake up inside the park, you then had to stay in eco-tents, boats, camp in tents or bring your own trailer.

The reporter was invited to stay at the Flamingo Lodge, which opened in November. A new restaurant, adjacent to the hotel, has also just opened.

All 24 apartments face the bay, with a large window in the bedroom and a small balcony in the living room frequented by curious birds (and lots of mosquitoes in the late afternoon, so it’s essential to bring repellent). It also has a kitchen with refrigerator, cooktop, dishwasher and microwave, as well as Wi-Fi, ceiling fan and air conditioning.

Built with shipping containers four meters above the ground, the hotel was designed to withstand the region’s typical storms and rising sea levels. For a natural tour park where cell phone signal is practically non-existent, the hotel appears as a luxury that should attract tourists looking for comfort.

To get to Flamingo, it’s a two-hour drive from Miami airport. The journey also serves as the destination: it’s one of the most beautiful road trips in the US, with mangroves and cypress forests right on the side of the road. Early in the morning or at the end of the day, the number of birds flying overhead is also impressive.

Among the stops along the way, Royal Palm is one of the best, with a 1km trail on a wooden walkway over a freshwater marsh. Alligators breed here in the dry season (December to April), as do anhingas, birds that can stay underwater for up to a minute hunting fish.

A more complete immersion in the Everglades takes place on the “wet walks”, US$40, organized from the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center, right at the park entrance. Two naturalists take small groups to see inside a waterlogged bald cypress forest, where the water can reach up to your waist.

You must be over 12 years old, taller than 1.37 meters and wear appropriate clothing to participate, such as long pants and well-tied sneakers so they don’t slip off your foot when the water gets a little muddy. Overall, the water is almost crystal clear and you can even see little fish and aquatic plants. Alligators are rare, but they can show up from a distance.

MARITIME PARK

Another national park in South Florida, almost neighboring the Everglades, is Biscayne, more popular for those who like snorkeling and diving. About 95% of the park is water, with coral and sunken boats to explore and possible encounters with dolphins and turtles.

On dry land, a walkway takes visitors through mangroves full of birds. If you’re lucky, you might see iguanas sunning themselves in the trees and manatees swimming in the area.

On the “return to civilization”, a strategic stop is the Robert Is Here Fruit Stand market, to taste fresh fruit and lemon milkshakes, one of the region’s specialties. For those who still have a thirst for nature, the Fairchild tropical botanical garden, with an unmissable butterfly garden, is 20 minutes from downtown Miami.

Volunteers are on hand to answer questions and release new butterflies fresh from the cocoon into visitors’ hands. The garden also has several lakes that will certainly remind you of your time in the Everglades: there are warnings of crocodiles everywhere.