Return to Flamingo Gardens

The first time I ever visited Flamingo Gardens in Davie, Florida, was in September 2017, when they were about to reopen. For a few months before, Hurricane Irma had devastated that urban paradise, downing trees and destroying much of the flora.

Sonja left Rosa right

I only returned there Sunday November 5^th 2022, along with friend Rosa, to spend quality time with Sonja, who was celebrating her birthday.

It was a wonderful day, despite the rain which kept coming down regularly, followed by brilliant sunshine, as if to remind us that it was still hurricane season. And of course, I had left my umbrella in the car, so got wet despite my two well prepared friends sharing theirs with me on occasion.😊

Flamingo Gardens is a 60-acre tropical oasis, which is popular among families and also as a wedding avenue.

The Wray home is now a museum

It was originally the property of Floyd L. and Jane Wray, who in 1927 built a weekend home there. They established a botanical collection of rare and unusual plants and eventually willed the property to future generations.

Their home is now a museum.

Today, the gardens boast more than 3,000 species of tropical and subtropical plants, including 200-year-old Southern live oaks, and 300 plus species of palms. It is an absolute paradise which you can tour in a tram with knowledgeable drivers imparting valuable information all along the way.

Flamingos galore

In addition to the flora, the Gardens has a fully developed aviary with a wide variety of birds common to the Everglades. In addition, it is a sanctuary for animals which have been hurt and have to be rehabilitated before being let back into to the wild. 

Some cannot however be returned, so they have to stay there for life.

Beautiful peacocks hang out in a tree covered with orchids

An interesting attraction, is the animal show which is extremely popular among children, but I too learnt a great deal about Owls, snakes and falcons.

 I was especially impressed with the courageous young man who volunteered to assist in the demonstration, with a small boa around his neck.

As one who has also developed a love for that very maligned reptile, I was impressed how easily he fulfilled the role.

The only animal I saw on this trip was a Florida Panther, although I hear there is also a Bobcat and a Black Bear there. We never saw those but did get to interact quite a few friendly domestic cats.

No only were the Gardens themselves refreshing and wonderful, but so was the camaraderie among us. 

It was even more enjoyable when the visiting band started to play reggae music.

That certainly got me in the spirit!

Unfortunately, the intermittent rain kept people away from where they were, but the band played on!

Another pleasant surprise was the Gallery. Here we saw the most amazingly detailed black and white photographs of sections of the Everglades, which had been taken by what is now a very ancient camera.

This ancient camera takes amazing pics!

Flamingo Gardens is an absolutely marvelous place in the middle of metropolitan Fort Lauderdale, where one can enjoy some treasures of nature and learn so much.

I am happy Rosa suggested that we celebrate there with Sonja.

GREAT MEMORIES 

 

 

Naples, Florida

 My interest in nearby Naples, Florida, stemmed from the fact that I love the beach and had heard they had wonderful beaches there.

Wonderful is relative though, for what is wonderful to North Americans is certainly not wonderful to people from the Caribbean, who are accustomed to white sands beaches with clear, warm, beautiful waters. So, although the sands are pretty and widespread, the water there just does not meet our standards.

Nevertheless, like much of southern Florida, Naples, (a Trump city (?) an assumption made because no business requires masks!) is a playground for snowbirds and persons with many vacation homes. And the city caters for them with some 450 restaurants to suit every palate and more than 100 golf courses.

 On a tour, some prominent names of home owners were floated as having homes there. Among them was the famous Judge Judy, who we were told was often seen driving around in her convertible Bentley.

A view of Naples from the roof of Baker Museum

It wasn’t only the beach I had a misconception about, but also the city itself, which I thought was a huge metropolis with high rise buildings like many other Florida cities. However, it proved to be quite delightful with attractively designed neighborhoods, moderately tall buildings, with a green and lush environment.

We enjoyed touring the Baker Museum which has some really good art, the luxuriant botanical gardens and the Zoo.

This amazing work of art at Baker Museum looks like a bunch of wires until you see the shape of the mosquito beneath!

I was particularly impressed with the zoo, where I saw an anteater in the flesh for the first time and was introduced to the Gibbon.

Seeing this particular ape in a tree at first, I thought it was hanging upside down, as its arms are so large and strong, that I thought what I was seeing were legs.

I so fell in love with this creature that I had to do further research in “Monkeyworlds” and learnt ;

Anteater

·     *  A Gibbon is often described as a Monkey but most classify them as Apes. The controversy often continues and so you will find information out there about them in both categories. You may hear them called the Lesser Apes at times too. They are smaller than Apes and they don’t have the size differences.

·      *  The Gibbon is the fastest of all mammals that live in trees for they have a body that is designed for speed and movement.

·        *The molars are sharp which can help them for fighting off predators and for food. Some species have two fingers on each hand that are stuck together.

·      *  Northeast India, Indonesia, and Southern China are home to the Gibbon. They live in both the tropical and sub -regions. They are arboreal which means that they only live in the trees.

From Naples, we journeyed over to nearly Ave Maria town which we were told, was built around a cathedral constructed in the shape of a bishop’s miter.

It is a new clean, attractive town which already has a university by the same name. Interestingly too, every business has incorporated the name Ave Maria, so if you want coffee, you go to the Ave Maria café etc. The town is undergoing massive development and I suspect it will be considered a major city soon.

From there we also visited nearby Immokalee, a Seminole reservation in the Everglades with casino and all.

Now that was a surprising experience, since I have always found casino food reasonably priced as that is one means of ensuring that the patrons stay inside. Not here though, for it was the most expensive menu I have ever seen outside of a gourmet restaurant!

A quick drive around the town, indicated why this was so though. For the fact is that it seemed to be the only decent place in town to grab a meal. So, what do you get when there is no competition? Ridiculous prices.

This is clearly a farming community though with a high percentage of persons who looked like Caribbean farm workers and very few Native Americans in sight.

Even in the casino, the workers appeared to be Afro Americans.

The trip to Immokalee was the only disappointment, for although Naples was not what I imagined it to be, the surrounding areas were really interesting and pleasant, including nearby Cape Corral where we had the most wonderful eco-tour.  

 

                                                                            The Gibon monkey on the move

 OTHER MEMORIES

Immokalee hotel and casino

Everglades et al.

Since we do not believe that the China virus should restrict our movement and luckily being in Florida which is not locked down, we headed to South beach with the hope of also visiting Key West to celebrate Michelle's birthday. 

Unfortunagely for us, despite the limited tourism activity everywhere, the KeyWest visit was frustrated as the tour was sold out.

We however had a nice time exploring South beach and while it is great for those wanting to tan, it was no big deal for me. For, I go to the beach to swim and am accustomed to warm water. But that water was very cold, so no swimming there for me. 

On day 2, since we could not go to Key West we decided to take in a trip to the Everglades. I had done one before but Michelle had never been. 

This time, I actually held a live gator. Yes it was a baby and the mouth was taped up but I don't even like little lizards, so before, it was quite a stretch that I would hold a gator!

An airboat in port

This bus tour took me to another park from the one I had visited before, so I did not mind, The food available for sale at this park was really lousy though. 

They had on sale alligator tail, fried chicken wings, and spring chicken. Having tried the gator twice before and never being in the mood for frogs, I opted for chicken wings.

 They were awful and unseasoned but I was too hungry to realize it until I had finished!

😋

Would you believe though that one of the blackbirds that hang around the place, swooped down and stole a wing out of my hand when I was eating? Damn cannibal. For aren't birds and chickens family?

The trip into the river was on locally made airboats that just skim the surface of the water. The one we traveled on this time had two large cadillac engines, a top speed of 35 mph, and was extremely loud when at full speed. Most importantly though, it skimmed the water well. 

Actually, I think I learned far more about the everglades on this trip than I did the first time, so it was great. 

An added attraction was the one-man show with gators by a member of Proud Boys.

These Proud Boys are not the same as the racist ones aligned to Trump. These fellows collect gators that stray into people's yards, pools, etc in Florida. 

They capture them humanely and take them back into the wild. It is some of these same gators that they use in their shows too.

  I have to admit that the one who did our show seemed absolutely fearless among those monstrous creatures and one lady on the team had quite an active snake around her neck too!

  This is a recap of some of the information I got on this trip given; 

The Everglades were formed when lake Okeechobee overflowed. It is the world's shallowest river, being only 9 feet at the deepest point. It consists of around 400,000 square miles of wetlands. The name Okeechobee is a Seminal Indian name meaning endless grass and the glades are now 90% grass. The grass filters the water on which 8 million Floridians depend for drinking. There are around half a million gators in that river but the Burmese python is an invasive species that prey on the gators. A large python can eat an 8-foot gator easily. It takes about a month to digest this size reptile. 

There are also Florida Panthers in these wilds as well as numerous bird species. The largest bird is the great white heron which eats any and everything including baby gators. There are no crocs in the everglades as they are salt water reptiles.

Flamingo Gardens

Some trees are over 200 years old

Today I went on our first Meet Up trek with the Boca Raton nature group since hurricane Irma hit Florida causing much damage all around.

One place that apparently had a lot of tree and plant damage was Flamingo Gardens in Davie and today ( 23rd September) was the first day they were reopening  section of the gardens to the public.

These gardens are an important section of the Everglades Wildlife Sanctuary and are home to a myriad of birds, butterflies and flora.

The aviary is the most impressive I have ever seen with a large variety of owls, eagles, pelicans, storks, birds of prey and of course huge spectacular flamingos.

The great thing I like about Flamingo, is that these gardens are also a refuge for Florida's small, native wildlife that have been hurt. They rescue, nurse, heal them and if they are able, return them to the wild or else they remain at this sanctuary.

At this time they have panthers a black bear, otters, alligators, possums, otters, bobcats, turtles etc.

An iguana basks in the sun beside the flamingo pool

I love that aspect of the gardens but it is really mainly a botanical garden which was established in 1927 and once had over 3000 species of rare and exotic, tropical, subtropical, and native plants and trees. Some of the magnificent oak trees which thankfully are still standing are in excess of 200 years old.

Not all the trees are native to Florida however as over the years, to diversify, they have brought trees and plants from all over the world. However a number of them were damaged and are being carefully pruned and rehabilitated where possible. 

So while only about two thirds of the garden was open to the public today, it is still extremely impressive.

A bobcat sleeps in his cage in a tree

There is also a museum which had been a weekend retreat of the Wray's who used it in the 1930's and later donated the property to the state.

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