News from Everglades Day Safari

The late Norman Caldwell, EDS guide, joked annually that August was vulture and grasshopper season in the Everglades. With alligators submerged in the water and terrestrial mammals seeking high ground wildlife often seemed hard to find during the late summer swelter. The summer of 2015 has been an exception to the norm, no pun intended. Drought conditions have allowed deer and bear to linger longer in the dry grasslands. Alligators have been found basking in the early morning and manatee have been spotted nearly every day during the boat cruise. While sightings are relatively unpredictable, you won't know what there is to see unless you go out and experience the beauty and wilderness of the Everglades. If nothing else there are always vultures and grasshoppers! (wink)

Swamp Cabbage - Have you ever eaten swamp cabbage? It comes from the Sabal Palm, aka Cabbage Palm. It's Florida's state tree and is identified by its fan-shaped leaf and can have a bare trunk or remnants of the dead branches still attached. The ancestral people of Florida such as the Calusa as well as the Seminoles of today used fresh fronds to make watertight roofs on their chickees or created rope from the fibers of the leaves. New leaves grow from the top of the tree from the center of the trunk. When harvested, it can be eaten fresh or chopped up and used in soups and salads like sweet cabbage. Have you ever had Hearts-of-Palm? If so, you've had Swamp Cabbage!

National Parks and Preserves - Everglades National Park, the third largest National Park in the continental United States is a World Heritage site and a tourist destination for guests from around the world. The 1.5 million acre park encompasses an extensive stretch of wilderness filled with sawgrass prairies, mangrove forests and hardwood hammocks. No less majestic and awe-inspiring is Big Cypress National Preserve. The first preserve in the National Park system, the 729,000-acre Big Cypress is home to Black Bear, Florida Panther, American Alligators, Wood Stork, Ibis, Roseate Spoonbills, Snail Kites and hundreds of other native birds, reptiles, amphibian and mammal species. Guest of the Everglades Day Safari have the good fortune of visiting both the Preserve and the Park in one amazing adventure.


Certified Provider News: EVERGLADES DAY SAFARI Erin White News from Everglades Day Safari The late Norman Caldwell, EDS guide, joked annually that August was vulture and grasshopper season in the Everglades. With alligators submerged in the water and terrestrial mammals seeking high ground wildlife often seemed hard to find during the late summer swelter. The summer of 2015 has been an exception to the norm, no pun intended. Drought conditions have allowed deer and bear to linger longer in the dry grasslands. Alligators have been found basking in the early morning and manatee have been spotted nearly every day during the boat cruise. While sightings are relatively unpredictable, you won't know what there is to see unless you go out and experience the beauty and wilderness of the Everglades. If nothing else there are always vultures and grasshoppers! (wink) Swamp Cabbage - Have you ever eaten swamp cabbage? It comes from the Sabal Palm, aka Cabbage Palm. It's Florida's state tree and is identified by its fan-shaped leaf and can have a bare trunk or remnants of the dead branches still attached. The ancestral people of Florida such as the Calusa as well as the Seminoles of today used fresh fronds to make watertight roofs on their chickees or created rope from the fibers of the leaves. New leaves grow from the top of the tree from the center of the trunk. When harvested, it can be eaten fresh or chopped up and used in soups and salads like sweet cabbage. Have you ever had Hearts-of-Palm? If so, you've had Swamp Cabbage! National Parks and Preserves - Everglades National Park, the third largest National Park in the continental United States is a World Heritage site and a tourist destination for guests from around the world. The 1.5 million acre park encompasses an extensive stretch of wilderness filled with sawgrass prairies, mangrove forests and hardwood hammocks. No less majestic and awe-inspiring is Big Cypress National Preserve. The first preserve in the National Park system, the 729,000-acre Big Cypress is home to Black Bear, Florida Panther, American Alligators, Wood Stork, Ibis, Roseate Spoonbills, Snail Kites and hundreds of other native birds, reptiles, amphibian and mammal species. Guest of the Everglades Day Safari have the good fortune of visiting both the Preserve and the Park in one amazing adventure.
The Florida SEE Grapevine - August 2015