Jungle Garden Hike 2024

Monday, February 26, 2024

Hi Blog!

After leaving Davis Bayou in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, we made our way to Betty's RV Park in Abbeville, Louisiana. After getting settled in, we had a wonderful weekend with our friends Dan and Susan from Illinois. More on those adventures in another blog. 

After two days of eating and drinking, we felt we needed to stretch our legs a bit. One of our favorite places to hike in the area is the Jungle Gardens on Avery Island. Avery Island is home to the world famous Tabasco Factory. It was also the home of Edward Avery McIlhenny, the son of the founder of the Tabasco Factory, who created the 170 acre gardens with plants from around the world.  We have visited Jungle Gardens twice before -- once in 2018, and another time in 2020.  No matter how often we visit, each visit is special and we see things we hadn't seen before.

The three mile trail starts at the Gift Shop. Other than day use fees at various state parks, the Jungle Gardens is one of the few hikes we actually had to pay to hike. However, it's a small price to pay to help the local economy and maintain the gardens for future generations.

We started our hike under a canopy of live oaks. As we made our way along the park road, we decided to take a side trail known as the Bayou Petitie Anse or Marsh Trail. No sooner did we get on the narrow trail, than we saw momma gator sitting in a pool by the side of the trail.

There were two baby gators. The smallest took off as soon as we approached. Junior was not inclined to move from his sunny spot on a small island next to the trail.

There is a series of ponds that run along the bayou. The gators enjoy sunning themselves on the banks of the pond.

We call this photo, "The Three Amigos."

A snowy egret keeps one eye on the Three Amigos as it fishes for lunch.

This little blue heron didn't seem to notice there were three gators sharing the same bank.

The Great Blue Heron was enjoying having this little island all to himself.

The Cleveland Oak is over 300 years old. It was named for Glover Cleveland who hugged the tree when he visited Avery Island.

 The path from the Cleveland Oak led us to the Asian Garden.

Along the way, we saw this turtle sunning himself at the edge of the pond.

At the end of the path, we came upon a beautiful shrine housing a 900 year old Buddha. The Buddha has became a focal point for visitors and still serves as a centerpiece at the Gardens. In recent years, the shrine has become an active place of worship for local Buddhists, who conduct a number of ceremonies there throughout the year - most notably on Buddha’s birthday.  We were astounded at the large amount of money offerings in open dishes around the shrine -- none of which had been disturbed.

Just below the shrine, a Great White Egret fished for lunch.

There are thousands of camellias in the Jungle Gardens. They bloom from December to March. While most of the blooms had past, we were still able to find a few.

The azaleas are just beginning to open up.

This massive live oak seems to be sheltering the lovely pink azaleas.

After strolling through the camellia study gardens, we made our way over to Bird City. This famous rookery began as a bird colony in the 1890s. Alarmed by local plume hunters who were killing thousands of egrets to use their feathers for ladies’ hats, Mr. McIlhenny gathered up eight young snowy egrets and raised them in an aviary that he built on Avery Island. The birds were released in the fall to migrate across the Gulf of Mexico, and six of the birds (and their mates) returned to nest in the spring. Today, hundreds of snowy egrets call Bird City home.

There are even a few Great Egrets in the mix.

When we finished our hike, we made our way over to the restaurant next to the Tabasco Gift Shop. After enjoying our Cajun crab cake smothered in crawfish etouffee, we proceeded to shop for the latest hot sauce creations. 

As with most adventures when staying at Betty's RV Park, we ended the day with another Happy Hour with our fellow RVers.

 

Here's to more adventure!