2013 - Mar 06 Shark Valley Tram in Everglades National Park

Today was a long, but enjoyable day. We hit the road it 7:30 and arrived at the Shark Valley entrance of Everglades National Park just a few minutes before the gate opened at 8:30. We boarded the tram at precisely 9:00 for the two hour narrated tour of the diverse ecosystems of the park.

We didn't cover all eleven million acres, but we got a good feeling for the beauty as well as the overall importance of the park.As out guide said, 'For the last 150 years, man has done his best to destroy this place and now we are finally realizing how important it is to nature as well as mankind, so we're attempting to make it right.' I won't go into all of the reasons why the Everglades is so important, but check it out and you'll see why they are in the process of replacing surface roads with raised highways so that the water can resume its natural flow from Orlando to the Florida Bay at the souther end of the Florida Peninsula.

After the tram tour, we waked around on our own and took a few more pictures. There were so many alligators that the novelty soon wore off. We left Shark Valley about 1:00 and headed for the Everglades' south entrance, stopping along the way for lunch.
We drove the road from the south entrance all the way to the campground, just past the Flamingo Visitor Center, a distance of 38 miles. We stopped along the way to take short walks into the hammocks and various natural formations in the park.

When we finally decided to leave, we had a three hour drive to get back to our camper. We got "home" at 8:15. A long day, but we'd do it again in a heartbeat!