In the southern quarter of the US state of Florida, located on the peninsula of the same name, the world-famous natural-territorial complex of the tropical type Everglades is located. The National Park occupies only an insignificant part of this very vast region, while its main part has already been exposed to humans. However, you can get an idea of what Florida looked like before mass urbanization, agricultural development and tourism, after visiting the conservation area. Today the Everglades National Park (Florida, USA) is one of the most popular in the country among tourists from all over the world.
Big Three National Parks
Three nature reserves located in the USA enjoy worldwide fame, and the Everglades National Park is the third most visited among them, yielding to giants such as Yellowstone and Death Valley. However, even being in third place, the park boasts an annual million visitors coming from both North America and other continents.
Yellowstone National Park is located in the northwestern United States, Death Valley in the southwestern part of the country, and Everglades National Park in the southeast, on the Atlantic coast of the United States.
Thus, all three parks are unique landscapes that are not found anywhere else and are not similar to anything else. In addition, each of the reserves is truly American in scope. Yellowstone covers 893 thousand hectares, the Everglades National Park is located on more than six thousand square kilometers, Death Valley covers 7800 square kilometers.
Everglades Natural Complex
National parks in the United States began to appear in the first half of the twentieth century, but by that time a significant part of the vast natural complex was destroyed as a result of construction, drainage and agricultural activities.
From a geographical point of view, the area is a flat, spacious swamp that rises above sea level by only one or two meters. The swamp is fed by the waters of the Kissimmee River. Within the complex, several areas are distinguished: Lake Okeechobee, the Everglades lowland, sedge-covered, Great Cypress Swamp, the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the shallows and sand spits of the Gulf of Florida.
The raised sandy coast of the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the beaches, stands apart. Florida mangroves have a close connection with the nature of the Everglades Park. Today, despite strong anthropogenic pressure, significant efforts are also being made to restore the natural balance in one of the most populated US states.
Everglades Park in Florida. Base
In the southern part of the swampy subtropical Everglades region, south of the Tamayami Hiking Trail in the state of Florida, is the third largest natural biosphere reserve in the United States - the Everglades National Park.
The territory of the park is recognized by UNESCO as part of the world heritage, and this imposes certain obligations to preserve the territory. For example, there is only one road in the park, and from the outbuildings there is only a Flamingo campground and the main tourist center, in which there are very few permanent workers. All other territory is completely wild.
The territory received the status of a national park on May 30, 1934, but in fact it became only December 6, 1947. And it was assigned the status of World Heritage in 1976.
Park structure and geography
On all sides, the vast territory of the park is surrounded by agricultural land and urban areas. On the one hand, its territory is washed by the waters of the Strait of Florida, on the other - the Gulf of Mexico.
The main office building complex, named after Ernest Coy, is located in the southeastern part of the park, west of the cities of Florida City and Homestead. A few kilometers from this center are tourist and educational centers. All buildings are located in a beautiful pine forest.
Six more kilometers away there is a beautiful observation deck, from which a road goes south through the Cypress Swamp, which goes into the Mahagoni-Hammock hiking trail, leading the traveler into the depths of the forest.
Mangroves. Fauna
Further, the named path leads to the coastal territories of the US National Park in Florida. Hundreds of small lakes and rivers flowing into the Strait of Florida are scattered in the mangroves. In the marshy estuaries of these rivulets, though rare, sharp-headed crocodiles are found that are not found anywhere else in the USA.
However, the American manatees, also known as sea cows, are considered the most important natural attraction of mangrove swamps. Often these slow and graceful creatures can be seen basking on the surface of the water in the morning, when the water is especially cool.
At the end of the hiking trail, in the very south of the park, the Flamingo tourist center is located. It is located in the coastal steppe territory north of the Strait of Florida. From the center of Flamingo, the trails go west to Cape Sable, which is considered the extreme western point of Florida.
Also, a canal starts from the center, leaving a hundred and sixty kilometers to wild undeveloped territory. To the south of Flamingo is a canoe rental center where you can take an unforgettable multi-day trip.
Northern part of the park
Photos of the Everglades National Park are popular with tourists due to the unsurpassed picturesque scenery of this reserve. The most tourist one is the northern part of the park, where the only highway is located, looped into the route leading tourists to the Shark River quagmire.
This river is a slow freshwater stream, originating in Lake Okeechobee and flowing into the sea in the south-west of the peninsula. Throughout its length, the stream is covered with small forests in areas of a swampy tropical forest inhabited by local fish and reptiles. When they talk about the Everglades National Park, they probably mean this place, since it is often found in tourist photographs. Almost the entire surface of this river is covered with dense thickets of high sword grass.
Indigenous people
By the time the Florida Peninsula was discovered by the Spanish conquistador Juan de Leon, the coast of the Gulf of Florida was inhabited by two Indian tribes: tekesta and calus. The territory that today occupies the Everglades Park in Florida, served at that time as a natural and almost insurmountable border between the two tribes.
In this part of America, agriculture did not develop at all, since the locals ate mainly fish and shrimp, which allowed nature to maintain its pristine condition before the advent of Europeans.