Shark Valley is located at the North part of Everglades National Park. Unlike the South part of Everglades National Park where people can drive all the way down the road, Shark Valley only has bus tours and only allow bike to go on the road. The reason for doing this is to preserve the marshland in Everglades National Park that is very fragile. The bus tour need to be booked online prior to the departure. People can bring their own bikes or can choose to rent from the visitor center.
We got to Shark Valley Visitor Center around 10AM in the morning. Since our tour bus is at 11AM, we had lots of time to explore around the visitor center. As we walked down the short hiking trail just right beside the visitor center, we saw a big alligator just by the trail. It was a huge alligator. When we just saw it, we thought it was a model of an alligator and not a real one. The alligator had its jaws open and seemed to be trying to scare us off. In the pool behind the alligator, we could see another alligator in there and also few baby alligators.
At 11AM, the tour bus is here and we hopped on. The tour bus was very comfy. The breeze in the air was soothing and made us wanted to sleep. The tour guide was giving the background of Everglades National Park and the history of the park. Every time there was an alligator on the side of the road, the tour bus would stop to let everyone to see.
After about 45 minutes, we arrived at the Shark Valley viewing tower. The from the top of the tower, we had the panorama view of the entire Shark Valley. It was just endless marshland from all directions.
On the return trip, we came across many blue heroes walking on the side of the road. It was not scare of the bus either and was just doing its thing hunting for food. Other than blue heron, we also saw many other different birds stretching its winds trying to mate. It seemed to us that sitting on the left side of the bus had better view of the wild life.
Overall, Shark Valley was definitely a highlight at Everglades National Park. It really had a lot to offer and we saw so many wild life on the bus tour. We highly recommend to take the bus tour when visiting Everglades National Park.
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