Everglades National Park, Florida's natural treasure

The Everglades region, a featureless land rising just a few metres above sea level, covers the entire southern tip of Florida. This vast expanse of marshland features a succession of natural areas: large wet meadows, clusters of pine forests and thick mangrove swamps mixed with cypress trees in the brackish areas close to the sea. Along the coastline, countless islands and islets border the Everglades (**Ten Thousand Islands***).

This ecosystem is unique in the United States. Until the 19th century, South Florida was inhabited by a number of Native American tribes, who were eradicated by European colonisation. At the same time, the Everglades served as a refuge for the Miccosukee tribe and the Seminole nation, made up of Amerindians and escaped African slaves, who fought the American army: no peace treaty was ever signed! These indigenous peoples still live in the Everglades today.

Urban development has always been the greatest threat to the Everglades: you only have to look at the sprawl of the Miami conurbation, which is making ever greater inroads into the marshes, to understand why! The local government even made attempts to drain the Everglades marshes at the end of the 19th century... which fortunately failed.

The Everglades are still suffering from human settlement in South Florida. However, thanks to the creation of Everglades National Park in 1947, and its designation as a World Heritage Site 30 years later, a vast area has been protected, allowing this fascinating ecosystem to survive.

We can't recommend enough that you set aside a few days of your trip to Florida to venture into the Everglades National Park, certainly one of the most striking National Parks in the United States.

Conveniently, as soon as you leave the Miami metropolitan area, you're in the Everglades. The national park is generally divided into two parts: Northern Everglades and Southern Everglades.

If you're pressed for time and only have a single day, concentrate on the Southern Everglades. The Main Park Road descends into the typical Everglades landscape, through forests, swamps and mangroves, as far south as Flamingo. Here you can embark on boat trips, or hire kayaks to paddle through the mangroves.

Along the way, you'll come across the Ernest Coe Visitor Centre and the Royal Palm Visitor Centre, two "easy" entry points to the park, with hiking trailheads. Other trails, often with wooden footbridges to cross the wetlands, take you deep into the Everglades, such as the Mahogany Hammock Trail or the Pa-Hay-Okee Lookout Tower.

To explore the Northern Everglades, follow Highway 41 from Tamiami, and loop around on Loop Road (Route 94). Among the highlights are the Miccosukee Indian Village and the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Seminole Museum, devoted to the American Indians and their way of life, and Shark Valley, which takes 2 hours to explore on the Shark Valley Tram Tours!

Keep your eyes peeled at all times: the Everglades is home to a wealth of wildlife, including its iconic alligators, rare American crocodiles, peaceful Caribbean manatees and the ultra-discreet (and endangered) Florida panther, not to mention hundreds of species of birds.