Eco-Tourism
Part One
Recently, there was an article in our local newspaper about eco-tourism inside and outside of Everglades National Park. The Everglades consists of about five million acres of wetlands, all of which stretches from south of Lake Okeechobee at the north end to Florida Bay on the south. The national park only controls a little more that one and one half million acres of that.
I have always worked on the outside of the national park, conducting tours throughout The Everglades. When I take friends and family for private tours and we have a full day or longer to play, I take them outside of the national park’s boundaries. When I have a tighter schedule to keep I go to the confines of the national park.
As a local, I have the advantage of knowing the glades inside and outside of the park boundaries. If the so-called "journalists" from the city were to come out and talk to the local people here in the swamp, they would know the answer to that question which they have neglected to investigate for so long, "Why do more people visit the outside of the park than the inside." The reporters always go to the national park for their information, tending to bypass the locals. Even when the reporters do come and talk to us, they very rarely, unfortunately, report the story with honesty and integrity. Somehow, they always change things around and make all of us look like a bunch of dumb red-necks. As I have stated before, I’m not a red-neck, I’m a hippy! The way I see it, we’re all just a bunch of good country folks out here trying to get by in The Everglades. Most of the intelligent and concerned folks I know won’t talk to the local news agencies anymore because they are tired of having their words turned around and used against them. That’s bad in a way, because that leaves only the "goobers" and "Deliverance" types for the reporters to talk to. Pardon me, I digress.
Even with our economy in a slump, tour companies on the outside of the park seem to be doing very well. My theory as to why that is, in easy terms, is the simple and honest way that the local guides explain our everglades to the tourists. I say this because I’ve experienced all of the major eco-tours in The Everglades. I’ve seen the glades from motorboats, airboats, canoes, swamp buggies, airplanes and I’ve even walked through the different parts of The Everglades. Tourists on my tours and on many of the other tours I’ve participated in outside of the park have told me that they felt small while on guided tours in the national park. They said they felt they were being rushed, that they were not given enough time for the beauty of the landscape to sink in, let alone the scientific information and terminology they felt they were being bombarded with. I’ve been told that some of the tours in the park are reminiscent of "first year biology class, back in college." Tourists, in my experience, enjoy hearing a little bit of folklore that we private guides tell them about because we are from here and haven’t just transferred in from out of state. It adds to their experience.
When taking friends and family on private everglades tours, we start on the east coast of Florida, just west of Miami at the eastern edge of the " River of Grass." We stop at different attractions to go on the tours since different guides specialize in different types of tour experiences and tend to know their areas best. We stop at different airboat companies because they are about the same but the tour guides are distinctly different and add there own flair to a good time. Also, remember, you get a local feeling of what’s going on in The Everglades. The local guides tell you about the past which is important because the past helps us understand the future. Scientists, generally speaking, are more concerned with the future because they will make more money from the future than they will from the past. Most of the so-called "experts" working for the national parks are inclined to think like scientists wanting to know and explain what the benefits of The Everglade are from a future roll standpoint talking about "improvements" that have not been made yet. Whereas, most of us in the tourism industry tend to be just plain proud of our everglades and want to share it with everyone. It’s not just telling people that all of our fresh water comes from the glades and pointing out , "this is saw grass, see how it is sharp like a saw." It’s also in the telling of The Everglades’ history. It’s about the Spanish, the Indians, run-away slaves who joined them and the battles that were fought, hunting, fishing and alligator wrestling and hundreds of years of conservation practices. You just can’t get that from someone who was giving the same speech (change "this is saw grass" to "this is the giant sequoia" or "this is old faithful") in a different park in a different part of the country last week or last year. The big words and long sentences tend to be forgotten. Most people visiting the glades are on vacation and that means they’re here to have FUN first and learning about The Everglades ecosystem is a secondary consideration that just happens by itself when we’re having fun.
The National Park Service, in creating Everglades National Park, took the best part of The Everglades, which is the southern tip of Florida. When I take tourists for a private tour, I’m usually following a schedule, so I like to go to the national park’s south entrance. That is the entrance that takes you to the southern most point of mainland Florida (not counting the Florida Keys) and that will take you to Flamingo Park. I do want everyone to know that Everglades National Park is absolutely spectacular. How could it be anything but? At the park’s south entrance, you travel on a road that is 35 miles long to Flamingo Lodge. The fee to enter the park is only $10.00 per vehicle and that is good for one week, so, it’s not the entrance fee that scares people away. I will not say anything bad about the national park so please don’t take any of what I have to say the wrong way. It’s just the way I happen to see things. The guided tours in the park are very educational but for me seem to lack finesse, fun and the personal touch you would get from a local guide or a freelance guide. There are a lot of cool places to stop and walk on trails. Two of my favorite trails will take you through a hardwood hammock and the high ground of the pine forest.
I am always uncomfortable walking through these trails because someone always seems to be watching me. The traditional Idea of what the park was set up for is great, but the way it is controlled by the park service and the political power of the so-called eco-groups doesn’t seem to be working. The common folks of the world won’t be fooled for too long with big words and long scientific explanations. The first thing I notice as I enter the park are all the "NO" signs. These are all of the signs that tell you what you cannot do. If I have to look at a bunch of signs, I would at least like to look at one that tells me what I can do. One day my wife and I were walking through one of the trails and I told her that we were being watched. My wife said, "honey I think you are just paranoid, I don’t see anyone." I had her hand me our video camera and told her to stand right where she was. I pointed the camera over her shoulder and focused in on an unmarked S. U. V. just as a park ranger was pulling down his binoculars. I replayed the video for her right then and there. She was amazed and from that moment on she felt violated. We continued down trail to the pine forest and halfway through the trail I heard a vehicle stop on the road. I nodded to my wife and said, "honey, here we go again." Once again she couldn’t believe it. Then, a ranger stepped out from behind some bushes on the road, looked at us, saw we were looking at him and got in his car and drove away. It makes me feel guilty until proven innocent when they watch me from the moment I enter the park. I asked a ranger why they check people out so hard and the answer was, "one bad apple can spoil the whole basket." I didn’t bother to tell him that my mom told me that if you throw away that one bad apple and polish off the rest of the apples you’ll still have a whole basket of apples that are good. I don’t think he would have been interested anyway.
Despite the drawbacks of all of the restrictions and the ever present feeling that you’re being watched, Everglades National Park is beautiful. I continue to tell everyone not to miss out on a chance to go there.
When you go, start in the morning and give yourself the day. It should take about 4 hours if not longer to get to Flamingo and that is only 35 miles from the entrance of the park. Why should it take so long? At the entrance you will receive a map of the park. Stop at The Royal Palm Visitor Center where you can walk on 2 different trails, The Anhinga Trail and The Gumbo-limbo trail. The Gumbo-limbo trail is a must see. You should give yourself about 2 hours for this stop. Before you leave the visitor center, look on your map and mark the places you are going to stop. Mark half the spots on your map to stop at on your way to Flamingo and leave the other half for the way back. Do stop at the pine forest and the pay-hay-okee overlook. Take your time while driving through the pine forest and look out over the grass prairie for deer. Flamingo is a great place to have lunch before the ride back to the entrance of the park.
On leaving Everglades National Park we head west, leaving the "river of grass" behind and entering The Cypress forest on our way towards the western or gulf coast. I’ll usually leave the main road (U.S.-41) and show folks a side road called Loop Road, about 20 miles from end to end. On the airboats I let the tour guides do the talking, that’s their job and they are great at it. Once away from the tour operators, I become the tour guide and just like the local guides we have already been with, I try to keep it as simple as possible. I really don’t like to use the scientific, technical or botanical terms when describing the trees or the animals. I find that the private groups that I take out are not concerned with the hard-core classroom version of what’s happening on tour. While on a private tour, I also like to take my groups for walks off the trail, through the cypress strands and the open saw grass prairies. It’s always exciting for my groups when we walk right up to a wild alligator and are careful not to disturb the alligator. I explain to them why we can get so close and NOT be attacked by the alligator. On many occasions we walk up to a saw grass prairie on the edge of a cypress strand and see deer and many other everglades animals that have no fear of man (because they have never seen us before). We also walk within just a few yards of the many different birds. I’m a hands on tour guide and I tell people that we don’t have to be quiet, yes, you can get close to the animals including reptiles and birds and you can touch the trees and plants. People who have been in the park first are amazed that you can really touch and smell the everglades up close without harming them as long as we are careful and watch what we are doing. Of course that means that if you are not careful it is possible to harm the ecosystem doing the same things I said you could do.
When we leave the cypress forest we continue heading west on U.S.- 41 towards Florida’s gulf coast to see the mangrove forest, our salt water / fresh water conversion zone. In the mangrove forest we have many choices of what we can do. You may charter motorboats, canoes and kayaks or take an airboat tour through the mangroves (in some places) or take a walking tour through the mangroves, if you’re with a private guide. When you are done with seeing the west coast it’s time for the long ride back to the east coast, about 70 miles.
There you have a sun up to sun set private tour of The Everglades. Don’t forget your mosquito spray and bring plenty of film! Oh, and if you’re with Gatorman you’d better remember a dry pair of socks.
"NATURE RULE’S!!!!!!!"
PS. If any of my stories can help you with anything for education (a grade, class project, or a science fair) just e-mail me, and I will give you permission to use the story. All I ask is that you e-mail me back, and tell me what grade you got or if the class liked my story THANK YOU!!!!
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