Bicycling through the Green Swamp

The Geen Swamp is a vast area in the middle of Florida. It is noted for an abundance of wild life (deer, otters, boar, snakes and tortoises). While some wild life had been seen earlier in the day before we started bicycling 25 km south into the swamp we saw none because the swamp was almost dry due to lack of rain. Finally, when we found a swamp pool with water in it, Sandra decided to take pictures of the cypress reflections in the pool.
But, the view wasn't quite good enough, so she went to the edge of the pool to take pictures of the cypress and commented "it would be a lot better if we had animals in the pictures".
My response was "what about the alligator?" There, in plain view about 15 feet from Sandra was a sunning 'gator at the pools edge. She had missed it completely.
After that, the animal excitement was restricted to "running" tortoises. We spotted this one about 20 feet ahead of us scurrying across the path. Sandra dropped her bike immediately and raced to the tortoise (who beat her across the path). So much for the tortoise and the hare fable - those guys are "lightning quick". So, Sandra headed the tortoise off to get a picture front on. 

Mistake! The tortoise stopped and pulled both head and legs into its shell. Then, began a waiting game. Who would give up first? Eventually, a bit of a head appeared followed by a hint of legs. Sandra took the picture and declared victory! 

On we went on the "great Green Swap animal hunt". Since the trail head was so hard to find, Sandra had me save the coordinates in my GPS for our next "safari". I can hardly wait. :-)

Comments

Hervé and Bryn said…
Probably too cold for the gator to eat anyway. They can't digest when it is too cold. That's quite a tortoise. Wonder how old he is.
December 14, 2010 at 3:53 a.m.
Megan said…
Great photos. Almost like going canoeing.
December 14, 2010 at 6:54 a.m.
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