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Apparently people were also kicked out of town when they created the National park. I noticed, during many trips to the Everglades that there is a hatred for everything that is human in the national parks in Florida. In some keys, many mansions and houses from early pioneers have been destroyed just to restore it to its natural look. A bit extreme, the American way.

The hamlet of Flamingo stands in the Bay of Florida. I wish I had a canoe or kayak. There are plenty of islands and rivers to explore. It's really pretty. It seems a great place to fish. We saw many fisherman testing their luck. There was one guy who was not so lucky and he was surrounded by policeman. I thought they had just caught Bin Laden. There were cars everywhere. Overfishing is a big crime in Florida.

We did not even get to see any flamingos, they use to come, but the last time they were seen around in groups was in 1902. Bird hunting for plumes, used to be big business in this area. They even have a statue of a park warden killed by poachers, a guy name Guy Bradley.

The Flamingo Visitor Center offers educational displays, informational brochures, and back-country permits. There is also a small museum. Near the visitor center there are campgrounds, a marina and marina store, and several hiking and canoeing trails and you can also go bird watching. I did not see too many birds that I had not seen before. There are plenty of alligators in the park, few kilometres away form Flamingo.

The most interesting animal sightings was in the marina under a bridge there was a crocodile. My friend Ward had missed it, I insisted that he go back to take a look. That was our firs sighting of a croc in North America. When he went back, he finally saw it. The croc was not moving at all. It looked different than an alligator. The head seemed to havr more bumps.

Not long after we felt hungry, but we only found a little corner store. We bought some snacks. The restaurant had been damaged. At the marina, there was also a rental place where you could rent canoes, kayaks and bicycles.

We also went for a walk in the glades in a trail called the Mahogany Hammock Trail, which is a 0.5 mile loop. There are interesting trees. You can also view birds. The trail is almost all in the shade.

This is the description of the trail in their website

"This self-guiding boardwalk trail meanders through a dense, jungle-like hardwook "hammock." Lush vegetation includes gumbo-limbo trees, air plants, and the largest living mahogany tree (Swietenia mahogani) in the United States." .