Getting Wild in New Orleans: Honey Island Swamp Tour With Cajun Encounters
I recently spent 5 days in New Orleans and completely fell in love with the city’s energy, rich history, amazing music, and, of course, the food.
While there is so much to do within the city itself (see my top 15 here!) from exploring the French Quarter to listening to live music and even heading on a Ghost Tour, if you have a few days in New Orleans, then I highly recommend escaping the city and heading on a tour of the nearby Honey Island Swamp with Cajun Encounters.
Cajun Encounters Swamp Tours
Cajun Encounters is a travel company that has over 20 years of experience sharing the best of New Orleans with visitors from around the country and the world. (They have even taken Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and their children on a swamp tour, so you know they have an awesome trip in store!)
Prior to the swamp tour, I had the opportunity to visit Oak Alley and Laura plantations with Cajun Encounters, you can read all about it here! I had an excellent time on this trip, so I was really looking forward to seeing what a swamp tour was like.
The tours are two hours long, and leave 4-5 times a day depending on the season. The tours take place on small, 22-person boats captained by knowledgeable local guides. The company also offers VIP tours on smaller boats, or a night tour of the swamp, but my family and I opted for the 9:30 AM 22-person swamp tour.
If you have a car, you can drive directly to the Cajun Encounters tour office: 55345 Highway 90 East, Slidell, LA 70461.
However, if you are like me and are not planning on renting a car in New Orleans, then you are in luck-Cajun Encounters has a hotel pickup and dropoff option available, which I found to be super convenient
For more information on tour times and prices, check out the Cajun Encounters website!
Getting Wild: Alligators, Birds, and Hogs, Oh My!
After the short bus ride (under 1 hour) we arrived at the Cajun Encounters office, ready to see some wildlife and explore the swamp. We checked in and were quickly assigned to a boat. Once our whole group was assembled, we met out captain and stepped aboard.
For those of us who were really looking forward to seeing alligators, we were definitely in luck! There were two alligators out right by the dock where all the boats begin and end their tours, so we definitely started off our tour on a good note.
I frantically snapped a ton of pictures, but I should have known there would be plenty more alligator sightings along the way!
As we cruised along the swamp, our guide told us lots of information on the history of the area, the effects of Hurricane Katrina on those living near the swamp, and the local flora and fauna as we zoomed by on the boat.
We stopped at a couple of other areas popular with the alligators, and our guide was well-prepared with snacks to attract our reptile friends-apparently alligators like hot dogs!
We also passed lots of other wildlife such as birds and turtles, and even a snake, as well as some pretty beautiful scenery.
After a while in this section, our captain turned the boat around and headed into the thicker section of the swamp. While I was expecting the area to smell “like a swamp”, it actually smelled really fresh! The water here isn’t stagnant, and the many trees and plants give the area a lovely, clean, natural aroma.
This section of the swamp was my absolute favorite-the trees, water, and Spanish moss felt like something out of a movie, and I was definitely enchanted by the strange beauty that surrounded us.
Can you spot the snake?
Our tour guide/captain even pointed out that one of the trees was the inspiration for Mama Odie’s tree in The Princess and The Frog-so it really was like a movie!
As we headed through a particularly narrow stretch thick with mangrove-like trees growing straight out of the water, we spotted an undexpected surprise-HUGE wild hogs! I have never seen a wild hog before and was totally amused by these funny sounding creatures living in the swamp. The tour guides even had cute names for each of the hogs! Several came super close to the boat, and I managed to snap a great close up shot of one or two.
This was the last major sighting of the tour, and we made out way back to the dock again. Once everyone exited the boat and thanked our awesome captain, we headed to the Cajun Encounters office and gift shop and picked up a couple of snacks and hit the restrooms before catching the bus back to our hotel.
All in all, the excursion lasts about 4 hours (bus to and from included) and makes for an excellent 1/2 day trip outside of New Orleans.
Overall Thoughts
My whole family had a blast on the Cajun Encounters Honey Island Swamp Tour! We saw more wildlife and alligators than I could ever have imagined, and the boat ride itself was incredibly scenic and beautiful.
Our guide was very professional and filled with interesting information and facts about the different plants and creatures we were seeing. It was great being able to learn about the unique environment we were exploring.
I would highly recommend the Cajun Encounters swamp tour to anyone visiting New Orleans and looking for a unique experience just outside of the city. The swamp is beautiful, and really is a can’t-miss experience for people of all ages!
For more information on Cajun Encounters tours, be sure to visit the Cajun Encounters website.
Disclaimer: This post was written in partnership with Cajun Encounters Tour Co. As always, my opinions are my own!
Have you ever visited a swamp, or would a visit to the swamp make it on your New Orleans itinerary? Let me know in the comments below!
You might also enjoy these New Orleans posts:
- Top 15 Things You Must Do In New Orleans, Louisiana
- Exploring New Orleans’ French Quarter + Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1
- The Suite Life: Checking Into New Orleans’ Historic Pontchartrain Hotel
- Discovering Haunted New Orleans On A Ghost Tour
- Discovering Louisiana’s Historic Plantations: Oak Alley And Laura
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