Enjoying Florida’s wildlife
Lesson number 1 when arriving it beautiful Florida: put insect repellent on.
Our first stop in Crystal River nature trail didn’t let us see much wildlife, the weather was probably too hot for it, but instead I got eagerly bitten by mosquitoes. I attract them, being myself kind of a repellent for Ben!
Florida is a land of many nature habitats, home to an infinite number of species of wildlife and plants. In winter, manatees (dugongs), come to the warm waters of the Gulf coast. Our aim was to see Manatee but we’re already after “manatee season”. We head to Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, where three manatees live permanently. In winter about 70 wild ones join them to enjoy the calm water of the sanctuary. The big three manatee residents are fed about 30 heads of lettuce a day, and because they don’t need to find their own food they are double the size as the wild ones. They will also be able to live to 60 years old. The park also showcase various rescue animals, most of them from Florida like black bears, bobcats, white-tailed deer, American alligators and a lot of birds.
