The Florida Everglades

Saturday, November 24

Bring on the alligators! We wanted a true “swamp” experience while visiting the Florida Everglades so after breakfast at our Big Cypress campsite, we headed over to Billie’s Swap Safari for the day. Billie’s offers 4 different types of eco-systems to explore on their property with lots of native and exotic animals. We were excited to learn all about them!

Billie’s was only a few minutes away from Big Cypress Campground, and we were happy to find the park fairly empty when we arrived. We parked our RV in the parking lot and headed inside the gift shop to buy passes to the park. I think we were most excited to go for an air-boat ride, so that’s where we headed first.

The staff provided us with earplugs and life jackets for the kids, and we hopped aboard a silver flat-bottomed boat with a huge fan attached to the back. The look on Tory’s face said it all - she was nervous! We assured her she had nothing to worry about... except maybe snakes. (Just kidding)

Snakes are not Andi’s favorite reptile, so we like to poke fun.

The airboat’s fan revved up and we began to glide across the top of the water. What a cool feeling! The wind blew through our hair as we followed the twists and turns of the swamp. We saw alligators, water buffaloes, herons, and lots of other birds on our tour. The boat captain did an excellent job sharing the history of the land and facts about the animals. Did you know alligators are actually black, not green like cartoons portray? They are cold-blooded reptiles who use the sun to eat up their bodies, so you’ll often find them sunning themselves on logs.

We were really surprised how many activities there were to do at the Swamp Safari. After the airboat tour, we checked out the Critter Show. The kids were thrilled when the show host brought out a striped skunk under her arm. She cuddled it like it was her baby - we couldn’t believe it! Definitely an animal lover.
Next, a white-tailed deer joined her on stage and immediately began to roam around the room. The show host let us know the deer was very friendly, and said it’d probably wander around to greet everyone in the audience at some point during the show. Sure enough! The deer came right over to Aden, who’d been eating crackers a few minutes before the show began, and started to lick him head-to-toe! We couldn’t stop laughing as Aden shouted, “I’m not food! I’m just a boy!” Luckily the deer left Tory alone - I doubt she would have been as good of as sport about licking her as Aden was.
A second trainer brought out a huge box turtle. This turtle was huge, and not as friendly as the deer. The minute the trainer set the turtle down on the ground, he slowly made its way to the back fence where it stayed the rest of the show.

The last reptile to grace the critter show stage was a two-year old alligator. It was surprisingly tiny! The host shared facts about alligators, and also said it’s legal to own alligators as pets in the state of Florida. She invited anyone who was interested in holding the alligator to come up to the stage after the show. This time Tory surprised us by volunteering! We were really proud of her for being so brave.

One of the most convenient things about RVing is having your “kitchen” wherever you go. When the Critter Show concluded, the four of us went back to our RV in the parking lot and made lunch. It’s also a nice way to recharge the kids’ batteries during all-day excursions like this one.

Our final tour at Billie’s Swap Safari was on a land & water buggy through the swamp. The tour guide was a local Seminole Native, and very knowledgeable about the trees and plants on property. Andi and I found it interesting but if you asked Tory and Aden, I think they’d say this was their least favorite part of the day. During this tour, we saw more water buffaloes, deer, red stag, zebra, antelopes, hogs, turkeys and various birds. You could say that we were the only ones in a “cage” bouncing and splashing through the swamp! The animals were widely spaced in their natural habitats. Binoculors would have been a great thing to bring along to get a closer view of the animals.

After the buggy tour, Aden’s attention span was nearing its expiration so Andi took him back to the RV while Tory and I walked around the animal exhibits. Our buggy driver happened to be by the panther cage, and took the opportunity to show us how personally connected he felt to this animal. He hopped over the fence and put his hand inside the chain-link fence. The Florida panther came over and laid next to the man, purring as the man rubbed its belly. Then, the panther began gently chewing on his hand, playing like he was a 10lb. house cat. It was pretty incredible! I’m not sure I would have stuck my hand in a panther’s mouth.
We also saw more alligators and otters playfully swimming with each other.

We had a great time at Billie’s Swamp Safari, learning about the native creative of the Florida Everglades! After a full day there, we were ready to swim & chill at the pool in the campground.

Tomorrow, we move along to explore a new part of Florida — next stop The Keys.