On Gatorland’s Swamp Walk, you might see snakes, frogs, and perhaps a family of otters. But from now on, you may also come across important facts and history lessons.
The attraction has partnered with Conservancy Florida to add more signage to enhance the back-to-nature experience. Readers will learn about Florida’s aquifers, cattle hunting, dead-end logging, classic conservationists like Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and even famous strategist Charles Ponzi.
Conservation Florida is a nonprofit land conservation organization working to protect the state’s waters and wildlife habitat.
“We feel their mission aligns very well with Gatorland Global,” said Taylor McHugh, director of strategic planning for the attraction.
“While they are focused on conserving Florida’s wild spaces and protecting animals and land, we are focused on protecting alligators around the world. We want to make sure we create a better place,” she said.
I joined Gatorland CEO Mark McHugh and Gatorland Global Ambassador Savannah Boan for two laps of the Swamp Walk with McHugh.
“It’s really beautiful out here. I mean, it’s pretty much untouched,” Taylor McHugh said.
Swamp Walk, which stands at the southern end of the Gatorland property, is a 27-acre wetland area. It features towering cypress trees and surrounding wetlands and all that comes with it. A 600-foot boardwalk winds through this area, providing dry, safe footing for visitors. Swamp Walker is right next to the Orange Blossom Trail, but the sound of cars disappears in the swamp. Nature will find a way.
“You never know what you’re going to see,” Boan says. Recently, she spotted a snake, a snapping turtle, five river otters, a raccoon, a heron, and a deer. Look above as well as below. Taylor McHugh scouted a hawk nest.
The area is lush with greenery and water catches light, making it more difficult to spy on partially submerged animals. Magic Eye style relaxes your gaze and moves silently. Boan pointed out turtles, frogs and small snakes slithering to the side. They blend into the vegetation so much that you wish you had a laser pointer, but the thought of it in the old Florida wilderness is just too unpleasant.
You can see the turtle’s shell and face – probably a Florida red-bellied cooter. And then the curious heads of a few snappers (be careful not to get too close) draw multiple onlookers onto the boardwalk. The boardwalk is sometimes eerily deserted, but sometimes requires a single-file trek.
There are no official animal exhibits along the walk, but there are small shelters where you can sit, enjoy nature, and feel nostalgic. Mark McHugh says these trees typically reduce temperatures by 10 degrees in the area. The boardwalk is included in regular Gatorland admission.
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Boan said the best time to see the animals is early in the day or late afternoon. She recently saw a large deer on her property from her car.
“It was definitely different from like the little things you see just down the Keys,” she says. “It was huge. It was big enough that I pulled over, went and tried to look at it, went back to work, got one of my four-wheelers, got back there and tried to find it. And there were two women with him.”
Boans bend down to scoop up trash along the boardwalk, both left by humans and left by wildlife. A discarded ice cream cup could be a four-legged leftover salvaged from a trash can, she says.
“Raccoons like sugary sweets,” she says. “They like the sweet taste of hot dogs and ketchup. They love ketchup packets.”
We stop and read more about Florida’s history and the logging industry, which had a boom in cutting down cypress trees a century ago. Workers in the 1920s ventured into the swamp armed with axes and handsaws. Between falling trees and hapless crocodiles, it was a dangerous job.
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The development of chainsaws in the 1950s accelerated the process, and most of the large trees subsequently disappeared. The Gatorland Wetlands were a major source of logs for the railroad industry, the sign says.
Go at your own pace.
“Today, the cypress swamp is once again vast and lush, but it will take hundreds of years for the trees to regenerate to their 1920 size,” it says.
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