Everglades Day Safari - Fort Lauderdale/Miami

03/27/2024

What's been called the largest restoration project in human history is underway in Florida's Everglades. Billions of dollars are being spent to restore millions of acres. Jeff Glor reports on the massive effort, which just years ago seemed like a pipe dream.

01/24/2024

This massive Burmese Python is both hard to miss and easy to overlook. It's well camouflaged as it it hides out along the canal near the Big Cypress National Preserve visitor center. Everglades Day Safari guide Lia spotted this one on tour. The snake is invasive and one of the largest threats to the Everglades ecosystem other than humans.

12/13/2023

Out tour guide Mark discovered this emaciated female Snail Kite on the side of the road in the Everglades while on safari. I was able to collect her and bring her to the Conservancy of SW Florida for rehabilitation. Good luck pretty bird!

11/22/2023

Heidi from Everglades Day Safari talks with NBC2 about climate change and the impact on mangroves.

09/01/2023

Happy Anniversary to Everglades Day Safari! 32 years of swamp tours and going strong! How lucky are we to do what we do and have you all along for the ride!

Day tour of the Everglades guided by a local biologist/naturalist

08/23/2023

Our ecotours depart daily, in rain or sunshine, from Naples, Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami. Bring your camera, we’ll supply ponchos or sunscreen if needed. Call (239) 472-1559 or visit ecosafari.com to book your tour.

07/14/2023

Alligator Alley’s I-75 Mile Marker 35 rest area is a nice place to go Largemouth bass fishing, grab a vending machine refreshment, use the restroom facilities, all before getting back on the highway. The northern Everglades rest area is located in the freshwater sloughs of the sawgrass marshes in a water conservation area. The Everglades water conservation areas have multi beneficial uses. These protected areas receive flood waters in the rainy season moving water south to the National Park. The WCA’s store water for our use in agriculture and urban areas. They provide habitat for numerous wildlife and are also used for recreation and hunting. The mile marker 35 rest area is under construction receiving a nice raised boardwalk addition overlooking the area.

07/10/2023

Virginia creeper was first then poison ivy next.

07/06/2023

These trees are amazing and very important to their environment. Well I should say their natural environment. These trees can be a nuisance in urban areas due to their overgrowth and size. Ficus aurea, or the Florida strangler fig is a tropical fig tree with an extraordinary life cycle. They have a unique relationship with fig wasps called mutualism. Both the fig tree and wasp benefit from each other. Inside the fig fruit itself contains the flower enclosed in a little cavity. It’s sealed inside but does have an exhaust pore called an ostiole. This small pore can release a chemical substance that attracts the female fig wasps. The female wasp squeezes into the ostiole down into the interior of the fig. There it lays its eggs inside the plants seeds. It also spreads around the pollen collected from the previous fig it hatched from. Once her mission is completed the female wasp dies. Her eggs become grubs that emerge into wasps. The male wasps mate with the females making them fertile and ready to find another fig to lay their eggs. Before leaving their fig homes, they will collect pollen which will be used to pollinate seeds. Thus the cycle repeats itself. This is only the beginning. The fig is a delicious fruit that many animals enjoy to eat. Birds and other animals will eat the fruit and deposit the remains in their f***l matter where it provides the right habitat for seed germination. Most often the animal droppings take place in the canopy of another tree as in a palm tree. The seeds of the fig grow into a small plant and that plants roots start growing down towards the ground in search of nutrients. Some of the roots suspend in mid air while some encircle the tree fusing tightly to the bark. Once the roots reach the ground, they feed on the nutrients sending them up eventually expanding and growing with age. They can grow up to 100 ft tall blocking the sun of the host tree. Eventually with time, more fig seedlings grow wrapping around the tree to where eventually the host tree might succumb to its fate and die. By that time the fig tree can now stand on its own. They provide a great canopy to a forest and are beneficial to many animals.