On a Tram again….

Posted on March 2, 2013March 2, 2013 by Dusty Roads

There are 3 ways to visit Shark Valley-walking, bicycling or taking a ride on a tram.

I’m a firm believer in getting the lay of the land before I head off on foot and I don’t have bicycle so the choice for me was easy. Tram Ride.

The tram ride is a 2 hour tour narrated by a naturalist or park ranger. It covers a 15 mile loop trail that is closed to private vehicles. At the half way mark is an observation tower. On a clear day you can see for miles.

At 11:00 am I took a seat on the bench near the Tram’s ticket booth. It was a beautiful, sunny day. For the next 2 hours I’d receive an education about the Shark Valley eco- system and it’s wildlife.

As other riders joined me on the benches one of the attendants came by to chat. It was his role to give us the safety briefing. He told us to stay 15 feet away from all wildlife but especially the alligators and they can be unpredictable. He then went on to tell us about another tourist a few weeks back who kept trying to poke the alligators. Seems he’d been watching too many reality shows like Gator Boys and wanted to see if he could out maneuver the gators the way they do on that show. After being warned repeatedly he was removed from the park and fined.

About then our guide arrived and we loaded onto the tram. Right away we saw wildlife. A red-shouldered hawk perched in the meadow.

A mama gator and her babies sunned by the side of the pavement.

A whole panne was filled with Wood Storks.

Seeing so many of these our naturalist explained that these birds had been endangered because of habitat loss. They are very fussy eaters and if the water in the panne is the wrong depth or temperature or any of a number of other things, they will not feed there so it was exciting to see so many in one place.

Herons were everywhere, all kinds as I had noticed by the info center.

The tram would stop whenever our guide spotted something interesting so she could talk about it and give us plenty of time for photographs.

We met lots of bicyclists. They gave us the right of way and waved as we passed. That looks like a great way to see the sights up even closer than the tram. I believe there is a bike rental kiosk located near the parking lot.

About noon we reached the observation tower. We had about 1/2 hour here so we could climb the tower and take a look around. So far our guide had been pointing out the birds and gators and talking about the diversity of the wildlife in the Everglades. Now she let us head out on our own.

We all clambered off the tram and headed up the paved path to the observation tower.

Birds, Turtles and Alligators…Oh My

Posted on March 1, 2013March 1, 2013 by Dusty Roads

The water was alive. There was no other way to describe it. The surface was in constant motion. Fish jumped, others bubbled and gulped at the surface and gars cruised just under the tea colored surface.

Birds filled the trees. All kinds of birds. There were anhinga, egrets, herons, Great Blue, Great White, Tri Color, Night Herons.

The little birds with the red face were everywhere.

I could see turtles piled on the banks or swimming.

But the alligators were the star attractions. The sidewalk ran along side the water and the gators were hauled out sunning themselves…everywhere! They didn’t seem to pay any attention to the people walking by.

Gators, being cold-blooded, need the heat and sun to build up their energy supplies. They also can’t digest their meals without the sun. If they can’t get warm their last meal can end up rotting inside them and kill them instead of releasing life supporting nutrients.

There was so much to see and I hadn’t even left the parking area!

The information center is located on a wooden observation deck that juts out over the water. From this vantage point I could see so much going on. I felt like I didn’t need to go anywhere else.

While I stood watching a small gator came swimming down the water channel.

Almost immediately a large gator pushed himself into the water and began making a bee line for the smaller one. My first thought was male/ female but my second was that the big gator might have been being territorial. I waited to see what would happen.

The small gator picked up speed but the large guy stayed right on its tail until it seemed to pass an invisible boundary. At that point the big gator turned around and came back to his spot on the bank and the little gator continued on its way. My conclusion… territorial behavior and since the small one kept going it eventually left Big Guy’s turf.

I stayed on the deck watching the action until almost 11:00. I had a ticket for the 11:00 Tram ride. After that I planned to explore some of the trails.

It’s the Journey…

Posted on February 28, 2013February 28, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Everglades National Park. It’s been an unreachable goal on so many of my Florida trips. Normally my visits take me to the Orlando area even when I am not visiting the Theme Parks and Orlando isn’t anywhere near Everglades National Park. Now that I’m in Fort Lauderdale finally getting to the park is a top priority.

I realize that all of my little adventures so far have taken me into the Everglades…but not the National Park. My first decision is which part of the park to visit. There are 3 entrances and they are nowhere near each other. Since wildlife is a priority I chose the Shark Valley entrance. My GPS put me about 45 minutes away so it wasn’t a bad drive. It was highway for the most part.

I was making good time until I got off the highway and made my last turn toward the park. At least there were plenty of signs so you don’t get lost. What I didn’t know was that the last part if the trip was all under construction so it was one lane…literaly. You stopped for the flagmen who let one lane go , then the other.

The Shark Valley entrance opens at 8:30 am and closes at 6pm. As I got closer I saw snake hunters with their snake hooks searching the perimeter of the park for invasive snakes. The state of Florida is sponsoring a snake hunt for pythons. Latest count is at 31. The hunt ended Feb 8. I’m not sure what the final counts came to. I will have to look it up and let you know in another post.

It was a little after 9am when I saw the entrance to the park come into sight. The entrance fee is $10.00 and is good for 7 days. It’s also good at any of the entrances. Too bad this is my last day in Florida for this trip. I’m flying out of Fort Lauderdale Airport in the morning.

The limited parking was almost filled even at this early hour but the rangers were great helping me squeeze my little rental into a spot that seemed way too small by directing me in. I collected my gear and walked across the pavement to the sidewalk and almost stepped on my first “gator”…a big one! The ranger laughed and said ” Welcome to the Everglades. Watch where you step.”

What an introduction! I walked the rest of the way to the information center on the road..not the sidewalk!

The “Critters” of Sawgrass Recreational Park

Posted on February 27, 2013February 27, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Like most of the attractions I’ve come across in Florida the animals of Sawgrass Recreational Park are all rescues. If they had been left in the wild they would not survive and although they have now healed from their injuries, something prevents them from being released again. It could be that they are now disabled but it could also be that they have become accustomed to people. This loss of fear can put both the animal and the people who cross their path at risk so they live out their lives in captivity.

Of course there was the reptile section. There were snakes and lizards including a black and white tegue, an invasive species in south Florida. They had alligators and crocodiles. You could hold baby alligators and have a picture taken. One of the most interesting moments in this section was when a visitor standing by an alligator pit started humming. The large alligator inside raised itself up on its legs and began to respond to the humming by growling back. This back and forth went on for about 10 minutes. The gator was clearly responding to the visitor.

I moved on to the mammal section. There were quite a few empty cages here. Maybe the animals were in their shelters to avoid the heat. I saw some skunks and moved on. Then I spotted the big cats. There was a bobcat but the Florida Panther was magnificent.

Florida Panthers are endangered so to see one even in captivity was pretty special. This one was very active. One of the volunteers was playing a game of tug of war with him with a rope toy. That cat was not going to give up.

If the cage had not been labeled or the volunteer been there to tell us about this guy I might have mistaken it for a mountain lion. The tan coloring and facial features just brought that breed of wild cat to mind.

In the cage next door were two black leopards. I made the stupid mistake of calling them black panthers..OOPS!, I was very quickly corrected. Although these cats look black when the light hits them just right you can see the leopard spots.

In a tiny little cage was the cutest little animal.

It had huge ears but looked like a little dog, This animal isn’t native to Florida. It was a Fennec Fox which is native to the Sahara Desert in Northern Africa. This little guy was quite territorial, guarding its little cage by jumping up the wire sides when anyone came too close.

They had a raptor section too. These winged predators had broken wings and broken beaks. So sad that they will never be able to fly free again.

One of the keepers had his dog with him. What a beautiful animal! He had the most unusual eyes. They were 2 different colors.

I spent quite a bit of time here chatting with the keepers and volunteers. I could see myself working someplace like that with animals too.

Heading back to the parking lot I spotted another one of those red, blue and black/brown birds.

As another day began to wind down I put this one solidly in the win column.

But tomorrow I will finally get to Everglades National Park. I am soooo excited!

Sawgrass Recreational Park

Posted on February 26, 2013February 26, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Sometimes I’m not sure what I am thinking about or even why I do some things.

After wandering around Flamingo Gardens some more I decided it was time to move on…but where? I had a list of places and attractions. I know I had someplace in mind as I hopped on RT 75. I think I was headed to find the Seminole Reservation but somehow got misdirected.

I was driving along the highway and my cell phone rang. No one ever calls my cell phone? So when I heard from one of my friends still in Massachusetts I got to chatting until I lost signal but by then I’d also forgotten where I was going. At about that time I saw a sign for Sawgrass Recreation Park. That was on my list of possible places to visit so having wasted enough time driving I pulled off to check this out.

Similar to Evergaldes Holiday Park, there are airboat rides, a snack bar and some souvenirs but instead of alligator wrestling they have a zoo of sorts. To explore the animals on exhibit you have to take the airboat ride. And that’s how I found myself back on another airboat. Not that I’m complaining. 🙂

It was another full boat but this one was open, more like I’ve been on in the past.

In fact, I’m pretty sure my mother and I stopped here when we visited Fort Lauderdale about 10 years ago.

As we pulled out from the dock our operator told us we can never get lost in the Everglades. He pointed out a row of high tension line towers. He said just follow those and it would lead you out of the “glades”. Because the land is so low these towers can be seen from anywhere in Everglades.

The airboat ride followed the same pattern , a little bit of “hot doggin'” to throw up some water and provide some thrills for the folks with a need for speed then a slower approach to the cuts and locations where the operators expect to see gators.

Sure enough we got to see a couple of good-sized ones in deeper water. They were swimming fast enough they even left a wake!

Another one made a bee line for a neighboring boat.

Our operator reminded us that gators can jump so keep hands and small children (swamp humor) inside the boat.

It was another beautiful afternoon.

Back at the dock we were reminded to check out the “critters” because they are part of our ticket price. I wasn’t sure exactly what “critters” they had but I headed down the path dodging one of the ever-present peacocks that decided the plop down right in the way.