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The Cajun Answer to Crocodile HunterWelcome to the Swamp!By Toni Dabbs
However, one starts to wonder when he coos to the first 'gator sighted, an eight-foot-long female sunbathing on a log. And as he walks about the barge-like boat during the 90-minute Alligator Bayou Tours excursion, first with an opossum wrapped around his neck and then with a snapping turtle balanced on his hand, he raises serious doubts. But the clincher comes when he feeds a 14-foot-long 'gator, his fingers coming within inches of jaws that could easily rip off his arm.
Truth be told, Ragland and Bonifay, of French, Cajun and Canary Islander descent, are keen conservationists, responsible for rescuing more than 900 acres of the basin from timber cutters. By forming a national non-profit organization, they preserved Cypress Flats, which hosts hundreds of bird species migrating along the Mississippi River Flyway, and Bluff Swamp, where 700-year-old giant bald cypress trees grow.
He keeps their attention, too. At the end of the excursion, more than one youngster clearly remembers, among other details, that egrets eat baby alligators and surviving 'gators can live to be 100 years old. Of course, Ragland couldn't hold people's attention if he weren't a good storyteller. Many of his stories are about the Acadians from Nova Scotia, people of French heritage who were expelled from Canada when the British discovered them fighting on the "wrong side" during the French and Indian War. Thousands made their way to this part of Louisiana, which has become known as Cajun country.
SWAMP-SPEAKBayou: A sluggish offshoot of a river. FOR MORE INFORMATIONAlligator Bayou Tours by Toni Dabbs Copyright 2003 by Toni Dabbs. This work, including photographs, is protected by copyright and may be used only for personal non-commercial purposes. All other rights are reserved, and commercial use is prohibited without permission of the author. |
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Jim Ragland seems sane enough as he greets passengers
boarding the 49-seat Alligator Queen for a cruise through the Spanish Lake
Basin, a 13,000-acre wetland comprising bayous, swamps and lakes between New
Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Ragland isn't crazy,
though. He and business partner Frank Bonifay, who pilots the boat, have
found an entertaining way to educate people about the wetland and its
inhabitants, which both men genuinely love.
To further protect the
basin, they privately purchased the 60-acre entrance at Alligator Bayou and
another 339 acres for wildlife rehabilitation. In 1997, they launched their
eco-tours to inform visitors about the importance of the wetland environment
and the area's colorful cultural history, receiving a tourism award in their
second season of operation.
Ragland uses his swamp creatures to get his listeners'
attention so he can explain the roles the animals play in the wetland
eco-system. And attention he gets, as kids come forward to feel the
'possum's bristly gray fur and women pucker up to kiss a juvenile
alligator.
He also talks about
contributions that French, Spanish, Creole, German, Scotch-Irish, Canary
Islander and African-American settlers made to the cooking, customs and
music of the area. By the end of the tour, he's got the lady passengers on
their feet, teaching them to dance the Cajun two-step.