The
Flamingo
section of the park - at the end of the main park road and perched on Florida's southern tip - holds virtually everything that makes the Everglades tick: spend a day or two in this southerly portion of the park and you'll quickly grasp the fundamentals of its complex ecology. From the main
park entrance
(always open; cars $10, pedestrians and cyclists $5), the road passes the main
visitor center
in the Pine Island section of the park (daily 8am-5pm; tel 305/242-7700) and continues for 38 miles to the tiny coastal settlement of
FLAMINGO
, a former fishing colony now comprising a marina, hotel and campground. A century ago, the only way to get here was by boat - the place was so remote that it didn't even have a name until the opening of a post office made one necessary. Then "Flamingo" was chosen, supposedly because of the abundant roseate spoonbills - pink-plumed birds that the locals failed to identify correctly as they killed them for their feathers.
Flamingo now does a brisk trade servicing the needs of sports fishing enthusiasts. On land, the
visitor center
(summer daily 9am-5pm, but staffed intermittently; rest of year daily 7.30am-5pm; tel 941/695-2945) and the marina of the
Flamingo Lodge
(
), the park's only hotel, are the centers of activity. From the marina, the informative
Backcountry Cruise
. ($16; reservations at 941/695-3101) makes a two-hour foray around the mangrove-enshrouded Whitewater Bay; the
Florida Bay Cruise
($10; same number), a must for bird watchers, is a ninety-minute trip through the marine feeding and nursery grounds of Florida Bay.
