The Billie Swamp Safari

Kid stuff and family fun draw casino customers

By Gale Courey ToensingThe Seminole Tribe of Florida, which has been a leader in turning its Class II gaming profits into a realm of diverse enterprises and fostering inter-tribal trade, was also one of the first tribes to develop the resources of its six non-contiguous reservations into tourist destinations. The Big Cypress Reservation offers an exciting tourist adventure--the Billie Swamp Safari--and is home to the tribe’s Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum.

Located in the center of the Florida Everglades watershed, the Billie Swamp Safari opens up 2,200 acres of the tribe’s reservation lands to the public.

Ironically, it was the quest for privacy that led to the development of the safari.

“People were always driving through the swamp, looking for Indians. The tribe decided to turn that into an opportunity to share its resources and culture, but at the same time protect its privacy by controlling public access to their lands,” said Cindy Malin, a safari spokeswoman.And:The safari offers daily tours into the swamp, hardwood hammocks and sloughs that are filled with wildlife--deer, water buffalo, bison, wild hogs, hawks, eagles and other birds, and Florida panthers.

Visitors can travel on swamp buggies or airboats, or walk through the boardwalk nature trails where alligators are feet away in the water.

The Billie Swamp Safari has a number of other activities. There is Sam Jones Camp, re-created for and named after the medicine man and leader who led the Seminole resistors in the second Seminole War. There’s bird watching and the opportunity to study snakes in the Herpatarium. There’s alligator wrestling--a spectator sport conducted by professionals, not visitors--and there are campfire stories about the history and legends of the unconquered Seminoles.

The adventurous can try Seminole specialties such as gator nuggets and frog legs at the Swamp Water Café.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Seminole Success Story.