Everglades

Under an hour west of Ft. Lauderdale along "Alligator Alley" puts you in Seminole Territory. The Seminoles are the only Native Americans who never surrendered to the United States...and driving through was nothing like a typical Indian Reservation. It looks as though they are doing quite well for themselves. In fact they recently purchased the Hard Rock Cafe chain, if that is any indication for how successful their tourism and gambling industries are.
The drive is impressive--bright white birds everywhere against the brilliant green of the vegetation. If you look closely you can see turtles and alligator heads in the prolific bodies of water that line the roads and reach toward the horizon in all directions. It is so foreign from any environment in which I have ever found myself. It gives the impression of overwhelming abundance--a rich, thriving land teeming with life.
The "swamp safari" we visited does airboat rides, narrated buggy trips, reptile, amphibian and bird shows and has little cabins for camping. The place is billed as an eco-travel destination, and I was impressed with the respect and knowledge our tour guides had for the animals and environments they taught us about. Most interesting was the airboat ride through the swamp--they hand out earplugs and then take off, fast, and it feels like you are flying over the water. It is unbelievably loud, and right off the bat this challenged my idea of what "eco tourism" was all about--but our tourguide had an impressive answer--he claims the loud sounds don't bother the animals at all--witness the Miami airport bird sanctuary or the Cape Canaveral abundance of alligators and birds. They might fly away from the immediate vicinity of the noise, but it is over quickly and they come right back. Anyways, we learned all sorts of interesting things about alligators in a much more authentic environment than the "alligator farm" type places. If you throw a peanut or a twig in the water, any alligator within 30 feet immediately turns toward the sound and starts moving toward it, in the hopes that it is something a bird or fish will eat. Our guide did this many times and it was surprising how quickly the gators responded. We never actually got to see them eat anything, but you can see how it happens. Also learned that most alligator accidents occur where they are fed by humans (like alligator farms) and the alligators mistake a gesture like a wave as a throwing of food. They actually think we taste salty and gross and would spit us out unless we fight them hard or are provoking them, in which case they wouldn't hesitate to really attack. But really they prefer a nice fat bird or some other animal.
The first photo above is me holding a baby alligator. Don't worry, it's little mouth is rubber banded shut to keep it from biting us. It felt somehow snuggly and nice and had a soft belly. It was actually really cute. But I wouldn't want to trust a rubberband a year from now.