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The Everglades and the Ten Thousand Islands: the back story
The back story
About The Everglades and the Ten Thousand Islands: the back story
The Everglades are a vast, slow-moving wetland flowing south across Florida to the sea. On the Gulf coast below Naples they end in the Ten Thousand Islands, a labyrinth of mangroves explored by boat and kayak from Everglades City.
A river of grass
Fresh water once flowed south from Lake Okeechobee in a sheet a few inches deep and many miles wide; the writer Marjory Stoneman Douglas called it the river of grass. Everglades National Park, established in 1947, protects its southern end, and is a World Heritage Site.
Big Cypress and the Trail
Driving east from Naples on the Tamiami Trail, you cross Big Cypress National Preserve and the Fakahatchee Strand, where cypress, pines and wet prairie take over. Look for alligators and wading birds in the canals beside the road.
The Everglades are not a swamp but a river, a few inches deep and miles wide.
The Ten Thousand Islands
At Everglades City, the national park’s Gulf Coast area is the gateway to the Ten Thousand Islands. Boat tours and kayak trips leave from here into the mangroves, where you may see dolphins, manatees, ospreys and roseate spoonbills.
Our advice: go in the dry season, from December to April, when wildlife gathers at the water and mosquitoes are fewer; start early, and check the National Park Service website for current visitor-centre and tour arrangements.
Why it's on our list
- A river of grass
- Big Cypress
- The Ten Thousand Islands
- Wildlife
- When to go
Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with The Everglades and the Ten Thousand Islands: the back story before you go.