Tour Description

To help you get a better idea of the experience that awaits you on a Miccosukee Everglades Tour, we present a detailed description of the sights, sounds and tastes of the Miccosukee Indian Village and the High-Speed Airboat Rides:

Cooking Chickee

Many of our families still choose to cook over an open fire, so their cooking chickees are used three or four times a day. The four long cypress logs in the center of the fire represent the circle of life. The first log is always pointed toward the East, and the rest are laid in the direction of the circle of life with their ends meeting at the center. As the logs burn they are shoved closer together and more wood is added. The logs might last several months.

Different from that of the non-Indian, a Miccosukee diet usually consists primarily of meat, rice and fish. Venison and duck are served when the hunting is good. Miccosukee women are noted for their delicious fry bread, pumpkin fry bread and other Indian breads.

Family Living Chickee

These chickees are homes to two Miccosukee families. They work at the tables during the day and sleep on them at night. The beds are elevated to be safe from high water, snakes and alligators, a design well suited to swamp living. Mosquito nets are used at night. The families supplement their traditional lifestyle with a few modern conveniences, such as refrigerators and televisions.

Basketry

Miccosukee women weave pretty, practical and fragrant baskets from native sweetgrass. The long, thin strands are tightly woven over a palmetto-fiber base, and their sweet smell lingers for many months.

Crafts Area

In this group of chickees%amilen and women concentrate on their particular skills. Woodwork involves carving cypress or willow branches into children’s toys, such as bows, arrows and canoes, and into other souvenirs. Women craft intricate patterns with beads into necklaces and other jewelry and accessories. Other women shape dolls from palmetto-tree fibers, and dress them in traditional patchwork.

Nature Walk

This above-ground boardwalk offers a panoramic view of the Everglades, the only ecological community of its kind on Earth. The long blades that rustle with the breeze are sawgrass, so called because of their razor-sharp edges. Below the boardwalk, notice the earth is either submerged or very mucky, a vital aspect of the unique ecology.

Museum

Established in December 1983, the Miccosukee Museum provides a rare look into this people’s past. Items from clothing to cooking utensils to games are displayed, and a small portion of a family village is re-created. In Miccosukee’s history, a mini-gallery featuring the works of local artist Stephen Tiger and Everglades plant and animal displays.

All-New Alligator Habitat

There’s a wall between the alligators and spectators, but there’s nothing between the beasts and the braves who dare to challenge one. Get your camera ready, because you’ll see a man overpower a creature that’s at least one foot of teeth. The gators are mean and dangerous, but not hungry; they’re fed grocery store chickens twice a month.

Airboat Ride

Following the Village you will experience a high-speed ride through the ‘River of Grass’ on one of our world famous airboats. You’ll stop at an authentic Indian Camp, and see alligators and other wildlife at its best in the natural setting of the Florida Everglades.

Alligator Habitat