Where will the road take YOU?

Destination Diaries

After Dark At The Swamp

By Angela Ash

cajun alligator

It has become very popular for most museums to offer a "late night"... a chance to wander around the exhibits when the sun has gone down and the world has become quiet outside of the museum walls. 

Cajun Encounters Tours offers something quite similar.  They also offer a chance to wander around after dark, except that the exhibits are curious alligators, snakes, spiders, and every other creature that inhabits the swamp.  And the world is anything but quiet here.

cajun racoon

The tour is of the fascinating Honey Island Swamp, just outside of New Orleans in Slidell, Louisiana.  Never fear if you are without transportation, or would rather just relax and have someone do the driving for you, because a pick-up service is offered, and will arrive right outside of your hotel door to whisk you away on the most fascinating adventure to be had outside of Bourbon Street.

Our tour guide for this expedition was Captain Bishop.  I must say that he is probably one of the best guides I have ever had on any type of tour... period.  Full of an immense amount of knowledge on the swamp and its inhabitants, he mixed this information with folk tales and outrageous humor.  The tour guests were laughing one minute, screaming the next, and then dead silent as we crept through the Spanish moss in a tight waterway.

cajun pig

Now, I pretty much expected to see alligators.  I was not disappointed.  I actually lost count of how many we encountered.  They were everywhere.  There was one point when they completely encircled the boat... at least four or five of them.  However, I did not expect to see wild boar, literally swimming out to the boat for marshmallows and hot dogs.  THAT was amazing, and definitely a highlight of the tour. 

While the night swamp tour was an absolute MUST, keep in mind that Cajun Encounters offers all types of additional touring options.  They offer a day time swamp tour, New Orleans city tours, plantation tours, and money-saving combination tours. 

If you are going to be anywhere near the vicinity, visit Cajun Encounters online, and book a tour today!  You never know what may be waiting for you. 

No... literally.