Barataria bayous
A cypress forest standing in water, thirty minutes from the city, with wild alligators.
Duration
2 hrs – 4 hrs
Best time
Early morning
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
The Barataria Preserve is part of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and protects eight thousand hectares of salt marsh, bayou and bald cypress forest south of New Orleans. Bald cypress grows in water and throws up conical roots, the knees, that break the surface around the trunk.
Wooden boardwalks on piles cross the marsh for several kilometres, free of charge, and you meet alligators, raccoons and ibis along them. Louisiana loses a football field of wetland every hundred minutes: this landscape is disappearing, and the preserve documents it as much as it protects it.
Getting there
Twenty-five kilometres south of the city, on the west bank. No regular service: hire car or organised trip.
Rules on site
Never feed an alligator and never approach one: a fed animal loses its flight distance and becomes dangerous, and it carries a fine. Insect repellent is essential from May to October.