The Anhinga Trail, near the main entrance at Homestead, is one of the great wildlife walks in North America. A short boardwalk over a slough puts alligators, anhingas drying their wings, great blue and green herons, and soft-shelled turtles within a few metres, entirely unbothered. In the dry season it is astonishing; go early to beat both crowds and heat.

Shark Valley, off the Tamiami Trail, runs a tram and a bike loop out to an observation tower through open sawgrass prairie. This is the best area for alligators in numbers along the canal, plus snail kites and limpkins where apple snails are abundant.

Flamingo and Florida Bay, at the road's end, are where the coastal species are: manatees in the marina basin in winter, American crocodiles — the Everglades is the only place they overlap with alligators — roseate spoonbills, and ospreys nesting on the channel markers.

The Ten Thousand Islands and mangrove creeks on the western side are paddling country, best reached from Everglades City, with dolphins, wading birds and a genuine sense of wilderness a few hundred metres off the road.

The dry season from December to April is the time to come: wildlife concentrates, mosquitoes are tolerable, and temperatures are pleasant. Summer brings heat, storms and a mosquito load that genuinely spoils a visit.

Practicalities

The park has three separate entrances that do not connect inside the park — Homestead in the southeast, Shark Valley in the north, and Everglades City in the west — so plan around them as separate destinations rather than expecting a loop. Miami is under an hour from the main gate.