If you are visiting the Everglades, a trip to Big Cypress National Preserve is an absolute must. The landscape seems foreign to what you might typically expect in the United States. Massive Cypress trees growing out of the swamp, lush vegetation, plenty of alligators, birds, butterflies, and insects. You can spend many hours here, photographing it all.

You will see hundreds of bromeliads here in the Preserve. They attach themselves to the cypress tress using their roots. They are airplants in the pineapple family. This one above, in bloom.

Birds are abundant, such as this great egret. The waters are filled with good fishing and hunting for them. Again, you can see all of the bromeliads covering the cypress trees.

Among the insects found here are numerous dragonflies and I also spotted many zebra longwing butterflies, the state butterfly of Florida. At almost every stop, you can spot an alligator either in the water or just sunning right next to the road. As for mosquitoes….well, they can be a problem if there is no breeze around, just be prepared.