Charlotte Harbor Visitors Guide 2008 - (Page 11) Swamps, Trails and Alligator Tails For an excursion of a different stripe, make your way to Babcock Wilderness Adventures on Babcock Ranch where swamp buggies take visitors through four amazing ecosystems, including the Telegraph Cypress Swamp, and get up-close and personal with alligators, Cracker cattle, turkeys, wild hogs and Southern cougars. The ranch museum was featured in the Sean Connery thriller, Just Cause, filmed in the mid-1990s. Paddler’s Paradise You can observe the area’s ecosystems by water, too. Charlotte County has 830 miles of shoreline fringed variously by soft sand, saltwater loving mangroves and coastal plain grasses. Explore this wondrous world from a kayak or canoe on 200 miles of Blueway Trails, and you can get close to wildlife. The county has mapped out 53 waterway trails, ranked from beginner to expert and ranging from less than a mile to more than 18 miles. Paddling the Myakka and Peace rivers and around the myriad islands that punctuate Charlotte Harbor is a favorite pastime, and there are several outfitters ready to equip you for a day on the water or lead you down mangrove trails. See manatees break the surface with a soft snort; watch dolphins in a watery pas de deux; or kayak stealthily by a kingfisher poised to strike. www.CharlotteHarborTravel.com 11 http://www.CharlotteHarborTravel.com
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