Swamp People

After a great breakfast and a goodbye to New Orleans, we headed southwest into the Cajun swamps. We wanted to go on a swamp tour where we could witness the southeastern wildlife from a safe distance with a trained professional. In our research, the Jean Lafitte Swamp Tour seemed to be a reasonably priced and fairly credible tour in which we were guaranteed to see gators. That was our main goal.

The humidity was horrible, but the moisture from the swamps and the Gulf is enough to buy a plane ticket back to Portland. Houses became sparse as we drove thirty minutes toward the swamps. For good reason. To beat the heat, we worked on the blog in a Starbucks and calculatedly arrived at the swamp moments before the hour and thirty minute tour. We boarded Boat IV and we were on our way in search of gators. 

Soaking in the heat on the gator statue outside of the main entrance.

Held up the tour to snap a picture.

Entering gator country. 

The crew is keeping a close watch on the water and the shores. None yet. 

A true swamp. Gross brown water surrounded by brush and trees. The stench was barely bearable. 

We still loved it.

First gator. A victorious moment in the Peter and the Wolf Ride America saga. We'd been looking for one since Dismal Swamp in North Carolina.

Another gator sighting.

It's rare to see furry mammals in these swamps.

A little guy on the shore. Still don't think we'd win in a fight.

They look deceiving small underwater but we saw a few on the banks that showed the shear mass of these reptiles.

Here is the biggest gator we saw on our tour. Look closely and you can see a tooth sticking out of her snout. Our guide, Jason, informed us that each gator commands a separate area of the swamp. If one were to invade another's territory, trouble ensues, especially when it's a mama protecting her eggs. Our guide did his patented gator call (essentially a whistle and a "here boy!") into the megaphone and got the attention of a neighboring male. He swam toward the boat, unaware he was invading her space. Jason would throw ices cubes near the gators and they would swim towards it, thinking it was food. In this case, he tossed a cube in between the two gators and they started fighting. The mama gator would have fought to the death if the other hadn't smartly swam away.

We saw plenty of turtles on the tour as well. If a stump was sticking out of the water, a turtle was on it.

A bird resting on debris. Hurricane Katrina ravaged this portion of Louisiana. The devistation was evident throughout the swamp channels. As we headed west after the tour, we drove on a road that had signs every mile that read "Hurricane Evacuation Route."

Here is a restored house. There used to be a community that lived in this swamp country. They relied on catfish, turtles, and gators for food. 

Our guide, Jason, brought a live gator on board. He instructed us on how to tell their sex, about mating rituals, and their conservation efforts at their office. They raise young gators until they are three-years-old and then release them into the swamp. 

He tapped the gator's mouth shut and passed him around. Peter was the first person to be handed the gator.

We were told to hold him by the neck and midway point of his tail. Wolf held him a little off center to feel the gator wrestle a bit. Felt very similar to holding a snake. 

Peter and The Wolf: Holding A Gator.

Small turtles hang out on the top of the swamp, while larger turtles inhabit the deepest parts. Here is the head of a snapping turtle. They can grow to weigh more than a human. They have no teeth, but their biting force is enough to take an arm off. 

We stuck around after the tour to talk with Jason. He has been doing tours for over ten years and loves it. Thanks for the tour!

After the tour, we headed northwest toward Baton Rouge. Similar to our hankering for bison burgers after Yellowstone, we were craving turtle soup. We found Parrain's Seafood Restaurant, which had great reviews and a great menu. 

Picture of the turtle soup. It was hearty and the turtle had a similar consistency to prawns. 

Molly Hatchet - "Gator Country"