One of those long-standing items in the Florida travel wishlist finally happened a couple of weeks ago – largely to commemorate the PhD defense. The Everglades is perhaps best avoided during this time of the year. Insect bites and a lost-wallet episode aside, I had a pretty uneventful trip. Gators, crocodiles, panthers (they say!), hundreds of species of birds (I missed the lion’s share though!), lot of interesting (and sad) stories on the Burmese pythons in the park, the mangroves – all made for an interesting couple of days. Remind me to hit the park in the winters though!

Oh! And I highly recommend Hotel Redland at Homestead, FL for stay. Really interesting place at a decent distance from the park.

Some pictures: