Florida, USA: Dodging ‘gators on an airboat in the Everglades

For some people of a certain age mention of the everglades evokes memories of a park ranger, a child and a real pet bear careering through grasslands on an airboat – yes, the TV series Gentle Ben. Enquiries here in Florida suggest Gentle Ben isn’t anywhere near as well known here, no-one had heard of it. Surely there’s a marketing opportunity there.

Florida’s famous mouse, space center and other attractions can sometimes hide the fact that much of Florida is actually wetland. Today the Everglades National Park covers some 1.5 million acres, but that is actually only around 20% of the original everglades wetland area. Even now around a third of Florida is actually wetland. Regardless of the sixties television show, we felt that an airboat ride would be a great way to get away from the highways, explore and learn about this abundant natural expanse.

The ride itself was of course fantastic. A big block Chevy attached to a massive propeller had no trouble jetting us down navigation ways between the grasses, and occasionally over them. The wind swept Rafe’s hair back so he looked like a Thundercat as wetland birds took flight around us. The endless views of water and sky underlined the vastness of the place.

The thrill of experiencing the Everglades from an airboat would have been more than enough of a great time. But what took this to the next level was the opportunity to get close to some of the animals that call this place home. Our first stop was a small island where the Tigertail airboat team look raise and look after otherwise abandoned or injured wildlife. A parent and several of their young were resting ominously amongst the lilypads and grasses around the pontoon.

With the help of our guide we were then able to gently hold and stroke more baby alligators and several species of turtles including the somewhat cute baby softshells and a considerably more menacing adult snapping turtle.

After a brisk ride we went from the conservation area to the original Tigertail ‘hammock’. This raised area was where the original Tigertail family of the Miccosukee tribe lived off the land. Here we took the chance to ask a multitude of questions about the traditional Miccosukee way of life in the everglades with our ever patient guide. Today the tribe raises revenue through licensing tour operators such as Tigertail, grockle farming and a casino.

The map below shows the full 128 square mile extent of the current Miccosukee reserve, a self governing ‘nation within a nation’. Although we felt like we had fully escaped into a vast wilderness, on our tour we only saw a very small part in the bottom left of the yellow area on the map.

How we did it

We went with Tigertail Airboat Tours. There are plenty of operators to choose from along Highway 41 which runs east/west between Miami on the atlantic coast and Naples on the gulf. We liked their focus on the nature and opportunities to learn about the native american Miccosukee culture. Having booked by exchange of emails it all worked well and the Tigertail team looked after us exceptionally well.