Shark Valley Tram Tour

Monday, we left Flamingo Campground to begin our journey back to northern Florida and then back over to Texas in April.   Today, we were going approximately 120 miles back to Midway Campground on Highway 41.

We had several people tell us the tram tour was very good, so I made reservations for the 10:00 tour on Tuesday.

We arrived about 9:15, paid for our tickets and waited for our tour.  The cashier gave us a receipt, but no other tickets.  When the tour was called, we were told we needed a red ticket to show which tour we were on.  We made a beeline to the cashier to get our tickets and when we returned there were no seats left for us to sit together.  Jim snagged an outside seat, but I got stuck in the middle with two people on each side of me.

We headed out on our two hour tour.  The first thing the tram passed were these baby alligators.  The nice thing about the tour is they know exactly where some of these nests are.  We would have definitely passed it if we had been on our own.

Next, we got a glimpse of this Limpkin,

 a Pied-billed Grebe,

Halfway through the tour, the tram arrives at a viewing stand overlooking Shark Valley.

After a break, it was time to get back on and look for more nature.

Here is a Florida Redbelly Turtle,

Snowy Egret,

a closeup of one of the water lily flowers,

and the Walking Catfish.  You would look at the water and all of a sudden you would see all of these bubbles appear.  We were told it was Walking Catfish.

 At the end, we came up to an "Anhinga Rookery".  There are four Anhinga nests here

complete with their chicks.

We enjoyed the tram ride, but are planning to come back tomorrow with our bikes to ride the 14 mile trail on our own.