I’m going to take you on a quick visual “day visit” to Florida’s national park – the Everglades.
A quick trip 45 minutes north of Key Largo takes me to Everglades National Park, which encases over 1 million acres of habitat unique to South Florida. The Everglades, a marshy landscape of water, weeds, and wildlife, has no other parallel in the world.
As my tourguide Leon said, “The Everglades do not scream at visitors, but whispers to us. If you listen to those whispers, they grow stronger.”
Established in 1947, the Everglades Park protects species not found anywhere else in the world, due to it’s unique tropical environment and marshy wetland. These include the leatherback turtle, the Florida panther, and the West Indian manatee.
A slough is a wetland, marsh or shallow lake, through which an array of biodiversity winks at its visitors.
For a 45 minute drive, the change of scenery seemed like a world away from today’s troubles. I could drive for miles and miles, 4 or more hours from top to bottom in the park, of no buildings, homes, stores. No elevation. Just flatlands, marshes, creatures of all sorts, and this air – so clean and fresh.
For more national park adventures, see my post from this summer when I visited Glacier National Park.
Wonderful post. I went as a child, and I don’t think I was able to truly appreciate the whispers let alone listen for them.
Thank you. I found it very peaceful there.