Posted by This past weekend we took the kids to the Lake Apopka Wildlife drive. This is literally in our back yard and we never have heard or visited. We embarked on our 20-minute drive to the Wildlife drive and arrived without issue. We had brought our DSLR Canon camera to utilize the lens for some cool / zoomed in photos of potential wildlife.
From what we heard, it is about a 20-mile track that you drive on gravel road in your vehicle. There are pull overs for you to get out and a few bathroom stations. We approached the drive and began our adventure. The kids (Maddox & Kennedy) were both assigned to look out for Alligators and to point them out. Later they also took responsibility in taking photos. Kennedy loves to take photos and takes great pride in capturing the perfect shot.
As we headed down we spotted our first American Alligator. Overall, I think we encounter 30 of them on the route. Ranging from 4 footers up to 10+ feet. The kids confusing Alligators for Crocodiles on a few moments learned about their habitat, talked about how they looked like dinosaurs, and recalled a time at the hotel when they got to hold one of them. (Thanks Croc-star). With the Alligators being the leading celebrity of this drive, we did encounter quite a few birds. Reading online it was a bird watching paradise and it shows. Over a dozen species of birds, I counted and took some pretty cool photos of them as well. The free pamphlet allowed the kids to follow alone on what they saw.
The Lake Apopka Wildlife drive is open Fri-Sun & some holidays from sunrise to dusk. The cost is completely FREE. In all, it took about 90 minutes to complete it and that was with us moving a little faster at the end. (Maddox was STARVING).
Check it out.
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