SEE YOU LATER ALLIGATOR! A LOUISIANA SWAMP TOUR

A trip to Louisiana isn't complete without a boat tour in one of the swamps. The mysterious realm of cypress trees rising up out of the muddy water and the alligators luring in the distance have something magical.

We booked our tour with Cajun Encounters, a company that offers all kinds of tours and is located at about 1 hour from New Orleans. It was the last day of our car rental so we drove up there ourselves. The normal price for a tour without transportation is $ 25 but we had a $ 3 voucher and only paid $ 22 each. A tour with hotel pickup is also possible and costs $ 52. There's about 5 different starting times. We took an early tour that started at 9.30am, to avoid the heat. We did this tour in July, so it was really hot, even being on the water. There were about 22 people on the boat and I got the best seat: the one in the back, which offers the largest view on everything.

We checked in at the small shop and followed our guide to the dock across the road. We got on the boat and listened to our guide as he gave us some explanations about the cypress trees and the wildlife int the swamp. He told us we might see some alligators but that they probably wouldn't come out of the water because it was too hot. He was a funny Southern guy, so we were sure we were going to have a good time.

Up untill that point the boat was progressing rather slowely but once the explanation finished, the boat took off at high speed. It was nice to feel the wind on this hot and humid Southern summer day.

A few minutes later, our guide suddenly lowered speed and we soon understood why: an alligator! Our guide threw some marshmallows and made the alligator come really close to the boat (who would have thought alligators liked marshmallows? Or maybe they'd just eat everything you throw at them...).

We made our way to a narrow part of the swamp. At some places, the boat hardly passed. We progressed slowly through this magnificent landscape, not knowing where to look first.

After about 15 minutes, the boat reached a dead end and we stopped. The guide told us to wait quietly and started making all kinds of strange noises. We were the only boat there and didn't know what to expect, until suddenly we saw pigs appear from behind the trees. They also turned out to be fan of marshmallows and came really close to the boat. A few minutes after our arrival, other boats arrived and the pigs were all over, trying to find the boat with the most marshmallows, I guess :) It was so unexpected and really fun.

(A few days after our trip, I read about tourists that had lured a pig towards an alligator, so that it would get killed and eaten. This happened in the same swamp and hugely shocked me! To know more about what happened, and my general views on animal wellbeing and tourism, please read this article.)

We headed back to the larger part of the swamp and saw another alligator. This one was a bit shy and stayed far away from our both, but it did like marshmallows too!

For the rest of the trip, our guide showed us a completely different side of the swamp, with abandoned boats, collapsed bridges and rusty steel structures.

In total, we spent about 2 hours in the swamp and loved it! The typical cypress trees were breathtaking, the alligators were quite impressive and the pigs an unexpected and lovely surprise. We were really happy with our tour company and guide. I would have loved spending a little more time in other narrow 'alleys' of the swamp, but seeing different aspects of it was a great experience as well.

#Sightsactivities #USA #Louisiana #Nature #Wildlife #Scenery #NatureWildlife