OliverB

Hello everyone,

I'll be taking my wife to NOLA for the first time in late-March and I would like to book a tour of Manchac Swamp.

We will not be booking with one of the brokering companies that bus tourists out of the French Quarter, as I've read of too many negative experiences and critical reports on TA. They're apparently often late and running off schedule and it sounds like you're paying primarily for the transportation rather than information/narration as you would expect from a credible tour operator. Not to mention that the idea of loading into a mini-van with groups of tourists for hours on end has zero appeal to me whatsoever. Instead, we'll be renting a car for the day and exploring the Louisiana back country ourselves; visiting the gothic plantations and antebellum mansions, searching out the best Creole and Cajun road food, etc. That seems like a much more enjoyable way to spend a day!

The one element that remains undecided however, is the swamp tour... There seem to be a few different operators that are highlighted by the local tourism industry yet from what little research I've done, none seem ideal.

I should note that I've been through the Everglades countless times; both the interior of the Nat'l Park and the small airboat outfitters that circuit through the rivers on the outskirts of the park and are generally shunned by locals as well as environmentalists. Most of these tours cover land which I believe is designated as Indian reservations and the families who run them often don't have any other resources. The state of some of these places can be a bit depressing. I would really like to avoid these kind of operations in Manchac.


Many reviews on TA highlight experiences wherein baby alligators are passed around for photo ops with their mouths tied shut. There are photos of tour guides chumming the waters with raw chicken or feeding marshmallows to racoons as if it were a zoo show. This is exactly what I'm looking to avoid. I don't want a family oriented kind of tour that goes for easy oohs and aahs by pandering to these kind of practices. I'm really more interested in exploring the murky backwaters of Manchac from a naturalist pov; sailing lazily beneath beneath ancient cypress trees while learning of the history and ecology of the swamp. I'd still like to hear tales of voodoo and swamp witches and all that fun stuff, but with an informed and interesting approach, recounted for adults. My number one criteria is that I want to find a reputable tour operator that gets off the usual grid and really explores the depths of the swamp.

Ideally, I'd love to book a twilight tour wherein we could drift back through the darkness of the torchlit bayou while the red eyes of alligators float alongside and witness the creatures of the night come alive. I'm sot sure whether that's possible. I'd even be willing to shell out for a private tour, within reason, if anyone is doing something like this.

I'd greatly appreciate any advice and suggestions... and if nothing quite exists as I've envisioned, please point me towards the 'next best' option.

Thanks so much!

FLYMSY

I was hoping someone else would respond to you that had experienced a swamp tour. I'll try to give you some insight from my perspective even though I haven't experienced this type of "tour".

My own experiences in the swamp were not of the tour type. I've been hunting & crawfishing in many swamps in South Louisiana, including Manchac, albeit, many years ago. I can't count the number of times that I've waded through swamps in hip boots, paddled or push-poled pirogues thru the swamps, fallen in alligator holes, spent the night in some old cabin with the freezing wind blowing thru the holes in the wall - I think you get the picture. I will say that it can be quite beautiful and, if you're lucky, the irises and spider lilies will be blooming when you go in March.

I think you've over-romanticized it somewhat and it won't be quite what you envisioned. I don't really want to pick apart your vision, but some of what you wrote seems like it came out of some tourist brochure that was written someplace besides South Louisiana or maybe an Anne Rice novel. Plantations, yes. "Gothic", no. "Sailing lazily" in the swamps, no. Paddling lazily, maybe. Stories of "swamp witches" is a new one on me. Voodoo, yes. "Torchlit" bayou, no. Moonlit bayou, yes.

It reminds me of a story from my days as a stock photographer. I had a prospective client call who wanted photos of New Orleans, swamps, bayous, wildlife, etc. While we were discussing her photo wants, she says that she wants photos of "alligators walking in the streets of New Orleans". I'm severely confused and say, "What?". She repeats this request and I told her that we don't have alligators walking around the streets in New Orleans. She started to argue with me, even though I've lived here all of my life. She continued to insist that I didn't know what I was talking about ........ because she had read it in a book. She got so angry that she hung up on me.

With all of that said, I greatly admire your wish to not do the typical touristic swamp tour. It's quite admirable. ^

Obviously, I haven't done these types of tours myself, however, in the brief research I did, this might be a good bet:

http://canoeandtrail.com/info/manchac/

I hope y'all have a great time and thank you for coming here.

Laissez les bon temps rouler!

Blumie

I've only used one swamp tour company, but liked it so much I did it probably six or eight times. That said, (1) the original proprietor, Annie Miller, is now deceased, and the tours are being operated by her son, and (2) you have to get yourself to Houma. As FLYMSY indicates, there are no torch lit bayous or red eyes floating along side your boat; rather, your in a boat full of tourists, most of whom will annoy you. But it always was a great tour and, IMHO, well worth the drive to Houma. And as annoying as your fellow tourists may be, I have to imagine that the ones who are willing to drive to Houma to pick up the tour are less annoying than the ones who insist on being picked up at their Canal St. mega-hotel.

http://www.annie-miller.com/

SuperG1955

We usually take visitors to Des Alemands which is fairly close to the city and go with http://airboattours.com/ - Arthur Mahern. Most of our northern friends keep talking about the wonderful ride that had, the creatures they saw and what it was like in the cypress swamp. Except for winter you'll be up close with gators. At the right time of year you can even hold a baby for a few minutes.

A good friend of mine went further afield to the Breaux Bridge and Henderson area (just before Lafayette off I-10). There are a couple of air boat operations over there that she was happy with. You can make it a bigger adventure by driving south on US90 from Lafayette and visiting Avery Island, where Tobasco Sauce is made. They have an interesting tour.

While you're down that way, there's one of Louisiana's 11 sugar mills right off the highway in Jeanerette. If you're there at harvest time you'll encounter the cane trucks delivering to the mills and the unforgettable smell of bagasse (the residue that's left after the liquid is extracted from the sugar cane) which is then burned as fuel for processing additional cane.

Blumie

Don't set people's expectations too high on the Tabasco factory tour: it consists of an 8-minute movie, followed by a 1-minute walk down a corridor where one can peer through the glass onto the factory floor before exiting through the gift shop. What makes a visit to Avery Island worthwhile, however, is its 170-acre Jungle Gardens which, notwithstanding the touristy sounding name, actually is a beautiful botanical garden and nature preserve.

Here is a link to one of my posts from several years ago with some recommendations for things to do in the area. (How embarrassing that I'm posting some of the exact same things seven years later!)