Everglades National Park, USA

Everglades National Park once covered almost 11,000 square miles of South Florida. Just a century ago, water flowed down the Kissimmee River into Lake Okeechobee, then south through the vast Everglades to Florida Bay, the ultimate destination of uninterrupted sheetflow. Because of efforts to drain the marshland for agriculture, development and flood control, the Everglades is today half the size it was a century ago. This "River of Grass" is a mosaic of sawgrass marshes, freshwater ponds, prairies and forested uplands that supports a rich plant and wildlife community. Renowned for its wading birds and wildlife, the Everglades is home to dozens of federally threatened and endangered species, including the Florida panther, American crocodile, snail kite and wood stork. The mix of salt and fresh water makes it the only place on Earth where alligators and crocodiles exist side by side.

Just a few hours into my exploration of the Everglades National Park, and already my sense of time seems to be warping. Maybe it's the primordial beauty of the place a dinosaur wouldn't look entirely out of place here, sloshing through the wet prairies. Maybe the British couple I met the night before, inside a small twangy barroom with a giant stuffed alligator in command of one corner, contributed to this time-warp spell: They were girding themselves for a road trip through the park with the giddy trepidation of 19th-century explorers embarking upon an expedition, anticipating not the highlights we associate with modern leisure travel a hot restaurants, hotel spa treatments, luxurious Instagram moments but the wildlife, the exotic heat, the immersion into a gorgeously alien landscape.

Main Attractions

Pine Forest

The highest areas of the park, which lie several feet above the low areas, are covered by forests of slash pine and plants like the saw palmetto which grows in the mulch of fallen pine needles. These are called "pinelands" or "pine flatwoods." The term "slash pine" is derived from the old practice of slashing their bark to get sap to make turpentine. Other pines which are found in these areas include longleaf pine, southern Florida slash pine, and pond pine. The floor of these forests is rough, rugged, and rocky.

Sawgress Marsh

The heart of the Everglades is the vast sawgrass marshes, the largest of its kind in the world. Prior to the engineering efforts of the human residents of Florida, these marshes were once part of a huge, shallow river 50 miles wide and 120 miles long running from Lake Okeechobee in the north to Florida Bay in the south. Noted naturalist and defender of the Everglades Marjorie Stoneman Douglas appropriately termed these areas the "River of Grass." This river was created from overflowing water from the lake running slowly--on the order of a foot or so a minute--across the slightly inclined floor of south Florida. From a geological perspective, this environment and the Everglades themselves are quite young, perhaps 5000 years.

Mangrove Swamp

In areas near the coast where the salt water of the gulf and Florida Bay meets the fresh water traveling from Lake Okechobee is realm of the mangrove trees. These trees prefer brackish water, and are responsible for creation of much new land because their roots and trunks trap organic material in the water. Mangrove swamps cover more than 500 square miles in the park.

Coastal Prairie

One other type of landform found in the extreme southern section of the park is the coastal prairie. These areas contain meadows and woodlands of buttonwood, gumbo limbo, hardwoods of other types, yucca, and grasses. Coastal Prairie One other type of landform found in the extreme southern section of the park is the coastal prairie, shown below. These areas contain meadows and woodlands of buttonwood, gumbo limbo, hardwoods of other types, yucca, and grasses.

Hardwood Hammocks

Few trees grow within the sawgrass marshes themselves since their roots would be covered by water during a significant portion of the year. However, within the marsh are places where the limestone is just a couple of feet higher, high enough to permit hardwood trees like mahogany, gumbo limbo, cocoa palm, and other plants to grow. These areas, which may range from an acre or so to hundreds of acres, remain dry year round. The hammock creates its own protective environment, often cooler than the surrounding glades.