Gone Swamping

I was once told by a coworker that you know you live in the swamps when you don’t notice a frog in your shoe. I’m not going to pretend like I understand that, but the story was about a family friend who went through the whole day without noticing there was a frog in her shoe. The point is that swamps are practically synonymous with this part of Louisiana. So how could I say I’ve lived in New Orleans and never seen a swamp?

The first matter of business was selecting a company. This was harder than it should have been considering you can’t walk a block in the Quarter without being solicited for a tour. I Googled “swamp tours” and ended up with too many choices. Swamps in the east, swamps in Lafitte, swamps in LaPlace. See I told you this area is one big swamp! But with the recommendation of my roommate, I settled on a tour in LaPlace through Cajun Pride.

Tours are normally $42 but I cut that cost in more than half by driving there myself. Without transportation, the tour only costs $19. The drive was easy and before we knew it we were in the middle of nowhere. Okay, it felt that way at least.

We had a little time to kill before the tour started so I grabbed a seat and took a look around. This place definitely fulfilled my expectations.

Whoever said swamp life can’t be glamorous? Okay, maybe not… but we tried.

When the captain finally called “all aboard” we hurried over to grab a good spot for gator waching. To our surprise the first little creatures to come out were raccoons.

They ran along the edge of the swamp following our boat in the hopes of getting a marshmallow. Our captain kindly obliged and threw them each a marshmallow after they obediently stood on hind legs.

There were plenty of alligators too. I thought we might have to look for them, but like Pavlov’s dogs they came swimming towards us at the sound of our boat, looking for food. Our tour group swarmed them like the paparazzi.

Our tour guide, who said he’s related to some of the characters featured on swamp people had lots to say about Cajun history and the swamp wildlife. I wonder if he really does know the names of all the little alligators or if he makes them up as he goes. Either way, I was convinced.

We finally upgraded from marshmallows to chicken and the gator babies raced over for a treat. They got pretty close to the guide’s hands, but that’s just my opinion.

I was a little disappointed when he didn’t grab one and pull it on board for us to hold. After all isn’t that why anyone goes on a swamp tour? Well thank goodness he finally put our waiting to an end and pulled out a 4-year-old gator that he claimed to raise in his dining room. Oh, Louisiana…

I impatiently craned my neck and waited as the little kiddos got to hold her first and then FINALLY got my turn. She was a bit wiggly but I guess I should’ve expected that!

When we finally headed back it started to spritz on us. We caught the tour just in time because the next one got rain. I would definitely recommend this tour to a friend.