A visit to the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

Last week my husband and I spent several wonderful and enlightening hours at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, a local Naples branch of the Audubon Society. Two miles of wooden boardwalk run through the sanctuary, which is a haven for many species of birds and animals.

It's so quiet there, one can literally hear a leaf falling from a tree. It's not hard to imagine the sudden thunderous roar of a dinosaur stomping through the forest, so primeval and eerie is the untouched landscape. Here are some photos I took as we quietly walked from one end of the sanctuary to the other. During our visit we spotted a red-shouldered hawk which unfortunately my digital camera with its limited zoom capability couldn't capture. But we were lucky enough to see the incredibly colorful tillandsia plants growing from the sides of trees, the strangler fig roots growing down many of the trunks and the odd ibis warily eyeing us from their perches as we walked along.

I can't wait to visit again!