Photo credit: Marina K. Villatoro /Gringa TravelingMom
Traveling to New Orleans as a single parent was challenging but it also allowed me to expand my search for the best family friendly adventures. One thing I knew I wanted to do was to get a peek of the bayou and swamps.
When I originally contacted Lindsay from BigEasy.com, I had the idea that this would be a full day activity. Not because of the swamp tour, but because I believed that the swamp was going to be far away from the city. However, I was relieved to learn it was only 30 minutes each way in a comfy shuttle.
This immediately made it an activity we had to do.
The Big Easy works with Jean Lafitte Swamp Tours, but Lindsay arranged the shuttle pickup and drop off. The shuttle operators offered me a very flexible schedule. I was able to choose from many different hours in the morning and afternoon.
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Jean Lafite Swamp Tour New Orleans – What You’ll See and Do
The first thing I’d like to mention is our guide. He was a fun, jolly Louisiana man who was just great and to the point, no bells and whistles, a true Southern man. This made the tour much more enjoyable.
Once you get there they give you some time to walk around the place and check out the rescued animals that they have.
A thing that I found interesting was that, even though New Orleans is a swamp land, the tour started on a man-made canal.
Photo credit: Marina K. Villatoro /Gringa TravelingMom
We continued going further in and entered the bayou. This is the natural waterway of the swamp area. There wasn’t much difference between the natural and man-made canals and we got to see plenty of gators.
Secretly, my boys and I were hoping to see Madam Odie’s house (from Princess and the Frog). Instead we got to see what the houses at one point truly looked like back when people lived along the swamps.
The most fun was when the guide took out a taxidermic head of a gator that he brought and suggested the kids to go nuts with it.
They decided to wear it like a mask.
He also brought a turtle, my favorite.
At the end of our adventure, the guide passed around a baby gator so we could all touch it. This was one of the rescued animals that they had. They were actually rehabilitating it so it can be released.
This tour was worth every cent and minute spent on it.
Interestingly enough, my kids were the only kids on the boat. So, even though I thought this was more a family adventure – which it was – this really was for everyone.
