Honey Island Swamp Adventure

We made just one stop on the way from Nashville to New Orleans at Slidell to take a swamp boat tour.

We were surprised that it only cost 30 dollars per person, so we weren’t expecting much, but we were pleasantly surprised at the beauty of this river and the competence of our guide to tell us, in story form, all about the wildlife and the very interesting history surrounding these Bayous.

I was so happy to observe so many creatures and new magical plants I didn’t know before…the absolute hilight for me was the pigs 🐷 who were originally brought here by the Spanish but for many generations have called the swamp home :) I had to cry a little cause I was so happy. We saw tons of birds, incredible bald cypress trees, learned about some freaky parasites 🦠 and generally enjoyed the ride.

There was a downside though…
I specifically searched for a company that protected the wildlife instead of capitalising on them (lots of tours feed the animals to get them to come closer to the boat) and this one claimed that it didn’t- but our guide gave the animals marshmallows, which throughly horrified me. The treatment of wildlife in the US is generally terribly irresponsible and every interaction is “human centered”- meaning that priority is always human gratification rather than the wellbeing of the animal. I have witnessed this so often with dogs… I frequently ask owners if I can pet their dog, and some of them will literally push their dog towards me when they don’t willingly come, to which I always say I don’t want to if the dog doesn’t want it and walk away. It’s absurd.Read more