Swamp Buggy Eco Tours of the Babcock Wilderness, Punta Gorda, Florida
Swamps have always conjured images of black water, boot-sucking mud, and alligators submerged to their eyeballs, patiently waiting to chomp on a passing leg. To me these dank, dangerous places were devoid of beauty and to be avoided at all costs. Thus it was with a bit of trepidation that I boarded the old Bluebird school bus, long since painted in a khaki and olive drab camouflage, for my Swamp Buggy Eco-Tour of the Crescent B Ranch, 90,000 acres of oak hammocks, pine woods, pastures, wetlands, and swamps.
Camo-painted school bus takes guests through the swamp
Our driver forced the rattletrap bus into gear and lurched onto a rough sand track. A moment later we sighted our first alligator, a foot long baby perched on a waterlogged branch in a drainage ditch. We rumbled across a brilliant chartreuse pasture and ducked into an unspoiled stand of moss-draped longleaf pine and Sawgrass Palmettos. Soon, the forest opened onto a broad plain where cracker cattle roamed. These smallish, red and black splotched cows are descended from ones brought to Florida from Puerto Rico by Ponce de Leon during his 1521 voyage. Accustomed to people, the bolder among them ambled up to the bus and stuck their heads in the open door, waiting for our guide to throw handfuls of hard corn onto the grass.
Baby alligator soaks up the sun
Chartreuse colored pasture flanked by moss-draped longleaf pine and palmettos
The Crescent B Ranch is proof that man and nature can live in harmony. In 1914, E.V. Babcock purchased 156,000 acres in southwest Florida to log its pine and cypress trees. For many years, three trainloads of timbers were cut each day and shipped to South Africa, where they were used to shore up gold and diamond mine tunnels. Fortunately, Babcock came to understand the crucial role that cypress play in the swamp filtration process and by the 1930’s cypress trees were no longer being harvested. E.V.’s son transferred 65,000 acres to the state of Florida in the 1940’s; this portion of the original holdings is now managed by the State as the Fred C. Babcock/Cecil M. Webb Wildlife Management Area.
Today, all operations on the ranch use BEST management practices, a philosophy that protects the habitats and wildlife while simultaneously increasing productivity. Cowhands on registered quarter horses work the cattle much the same as in the past. Horses and dogs are still used to herd the ranch’s 5,000 to 8,000 head of cattle, because they often roam into areas inaccessible to jeeps and trucks. Additionally, the ranch has diversified into other profit-centered businesses, including honey production from the Palmetto flower, sod and vegetable farming, and of course, eco-tours. Conservation programs put in place by the Babcock family have earned them numerous awards, including “Tree Farmer of the Year” from the Florida Forestry Association.
Florida "cracker" cattle sticks his head into the bus door, waiting for corn to be thown
Fascinated by the history imparted by our tour guide, I was not paying attention to the road until we squealed to a stop. Just ahead was a bridge – or at least our guide said it was a bridge. The river was pouring across it, inundating the deck with tannin-colored swamp water. Our guide seemed a bit nervous; the water was apparently higher than she had ever seen it. From my front seat I held my breath as she inched the bus onto the bridge. Water immediately rose to just beneath the bottom step of the open door. She crept out a little further; water poured into the bus and covered the first step. When water poured over the second step I picked up my backpack and my feet from the floor but I needn’t have worried; it was all part of the show.
Caramel-colored swamp water floods road through the Telegraph Cypress Swamp
One of two endangered Florida cougars housed at the ranch
On the other side of the river we entered Telegraph Cypress Swamp, so named because telegraph lines had to be routed around the swamp. Once again the road again disappeared beneath gently flowing caramel colored water. In this dense, dank forest hundreds of cypress knees poked through the water and alligator eyes followed our every move. On a speck of higher ground we disembarked and walked along an elevated boardwalk, examining frilly ferns and delicate toadstools that crept up red-barked trees. At the end of the boardwalk, a maze led to a wildlife enclosure containing two endangered Florida cougars. When the others returned to the bus I hung back. In reverent silence, I surveyed the scene before me. I never could have imagined that a swamp would be one of the most exquisitely beautiful places I have ever seen.
The swamp is painted in a palette of greens and reds
Swamp Buggy Eco-Tours of the Crescent B Ranch are conducted by Babcock Wilderness Adventures in Punta Gorda Florida. To reach the ranch, take I-75 to exit 143 and head east on Route 78. Turn left onto State Road 31 and go north nine miles. The entrance will be on your right. Reservations are mandatory and may be made by calling 800-500-5583. Admission for the 90-minute tour is $21.35 for adults and $13.86 for children ages 3-12.
Photo credit: Barbara Weibel
Article by Barbara Weibel at Hole In The Donut Travels
