Swamp Buggies
Tourists ask me on a regular basis "What is a swamp buggy and where can we ride one?" Swamp buggies are very unique vehicles and are not all the same. A swamp buggy is built to the owners liking and for the area it is used in.
Reading my stories you know that the everglades is a very large area and is very distinct, depending on what sector you happen to be in. We use motor boats in the mangrove forest because there are many deep channels leading from the everglades to the Florida bay.
On the river of grass (the everglades) we use airboats, because the water is very shallow. In the Cypress forest we use swamp buggies because there is not as much water. There is deep mud, rocks and stumps. A swamp buggy is nothing more than, a four wheel drive chaise with a flat top stand on top. Because they are home made, each swamp buggy is totally different that the other. This is why some swamp buggies are tall or short, narrow or wide. I’ve been on swamp buggies that could run through six feet of water. Swamp buggies are made to run trough the deep mud of the Cypress Swamp. In some places the mud is only one inch deep in other places the mud can be as deep as six or seven feet deep.
This is why the tires on a swamp buggy are so big. The average tire size on a swamp buggy is four to five feet tall. This enables a swamp buggy to run through deep water, deep mud and even over big rocks and tree stumps. A swamp buggy ride is slow and "VERY" bumpy. Swamp buggy owners get a lot of flack from Eco groups because they make trails trough the swamp but the swamp buggy is the only vehicle that can traverse the Cypress Swamp. Yes we do make trails but they are only to our favorite places. Swamp buggy trails are like any dirt road that runs trough any wide-open forest. People from the city say we should’t use swamp buggies because they make ugly trails. I would love to see some of those people try to see the Cypress Swamp any other way. These people come to the Cypress Swamp once or twice a year and we are out here once or twice a week. They know the city and so do we but, we also know the swamp and they don’t.
It is unfortunate that some people can’t see things in the same way we do. It’s also hard to believe that they would like to take away our right to enjoy the Cypress Swamp, because they refuse to open their minds.
If you do come to the everglades to go on a swamp buggy ride the best places are, Billie Swamp Safari or Wootens Swamp Buggy Tours.
On behalf of the Airboat Association web staff and myself, we would like to thank you for visiting our award winning airboat web site.
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Gatorman
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