The State of Louisiana is a sprawling system of bayous. We call them creeks in the east, but there are tens of thousands of interweaving and connecting bayous in the Pelican State and each has a name. While we were in this part of the country, Nancy and I had a chance to explore some of the bayous and it was fascinating. From our first Port-of-Call at Darrow, LA, we went aboard a river craft with Camp Swamp Experience and eased back into the swampy lagoons, hoping to see some of the wildlife that call these marshes home.
Capt. Tom was our guide – a modern day Crocodile Dundee. Capt. Tom lives in these parts, fishes for catfish, dips crawdads from the creeks and captures and kills dozens of gators each season.
Though the water was cold, we hoped to see some of gators in the bayou and we did. When the sun popped out briefly, the cold-blooded critters emerged, some with just their snouts peeking out of the water and some that shimmied up the banks. We saw little ones and some not so little. Capt. Tom says that a grown gator is worth about a thousand dollars in the marketplace. Their meat and skins are highly prized and even their claws are valuable as earrings and trinkets.
We were also treated to a herd of wild pigs scurrying along the banks. Capt. Tom said that if one of the small pigs ones came within range of one of the gators, he was invited to dinner. Likewise, if a baby gator got close to the wild pigs, he was also a goner. Other critters that inhabit the swamps are deer, raccoons, coyotes, beavers, muskrats, shrimp, and a host of waterfowl.
We saw beautiful egrets and fed some mooching coons along the banks. Then Capt. Tom showed us how to “fish” for crawdads with a small net and a piece of meat for bait. He said he didn’t catch enough to sell, but he caught plenty for his own use in soups and gumbos.
Our several hours in the bayous gave us a glimpse of a different way of life, that of the native tribes of long ago and even of some who continue to live back in the marshes where the crawdads sing.
It was an amazing experience.
