Alligators! They’re most famous resident of the Everglades but it’s also home for many other animals , birds and of course mosquitoes. We were pretty lucky because it’s been just cool enough to keep the mosquito population down.
The Everglades has even been a home for humans. There are still traces of Calusa Indians villages but the inhabitants disappeared around the 1700s , wiped out by white man’s diseases. Later Indians fared a little better and still live on the edges of the Everglades. They’re descendants of the Seminole and Miccosukee who escaped into the maze of grass, mangrove and small hardwood islands to avoid the mass deportation of the Indians to Oklahoma.
This is such a unique place. It’s the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States and has been designated a World Heritage Site. So many people want to live in south Florida which has caused a lot of damage to the Everglades – draining the swamps , diverting water with canals and polluting what is left with heavy metals and agricultural runoff. It’s a constant balancing act to provide for the people while trying to control further destruction and preserve what is left. More pictures here - https://picasaweb.google.com/tonyandkaren1/EvergladesNationalParkFlorida?authkey=Gv1sRgCOnEj_f4tsKfNw#
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