Shark Valley, Florida, United States

5TravellinAfrican 5:00 PM Apr 19, 2022

Great experience for up close wildlife viewing
Ok, the bikes are past their best, but mine rode fine. I arrived just before the gates opened. Even though it was Easter Sunday, there were only a few other cars entering at that time and it was obviously the coolest part of the day. I booked a bike in advance, which might not be necessary if you go that early, but certainly is if you go later - by the time I returned at 11:30, there was a waiting list for bikes and people just had to wait for bikes to be returned before setting off. I went really slowly for the first half, because there was just so much to see! I was stopping every 30 seconds or so. A lot of people were flying past me and would have missed a lot. I don't really see the point of doing the bike ride if you go fast. May as well not get hot and sweaty and do the tram instead. At the observation tower I turned around and went back the same way, as I heard that there was less wildlife on the second half of the loop. On the return leg I pretty much zoomed back in about 40 mins as I had seen so much on the first leg and it was getting very hot. I did still stop a few times and saw some new things. I saw so many people just starting off at the hottest time of the day and it seemed a bit crazy - plan better! I liked the bike option because I could take things at my own pace, which allowed me to stop often, but I was also able to go all the way to the observation tower and back within 3 hours. I'm glad I did as I saw different things the further along I went, although for those with less time/physical ability, even going 2 miles out and back would still be worthwhile. Definitely do-able on foot, but it would be a long day in the sun to go all the way to the tower and back. I went on a 1.5 hour airboat tour after, which was super fun and interesting, but I saw many more gators and birds at Shark Valley. It was a great combination to do for a daytrip.

5Gary L 5:00 PM Dec 30, 2021

You don't need to do the tram!
We decided to the Everglades a little last minute so by the time we even thought of Shark Valley, the tram tours were sold out. We did NOT want to walk the 15 miles to the observation tower so we opted for the shorter trails (Bobcat and Otter). Overall it takes like 2ish hours. We went in the morning, which was a great move because the line is already pretty long to enter this part of the park. Better yet, the animals were all out and about doing their morning routines. I think we saw at least 5 gators up close and personal. Best of all, we got to see baby gators near their mama just hanging out. They were so cute. It really was a special experience. We were also very fortunate to watch an anhinga bird do its thing—it speared a fish and swam around with it before hopping onto a branch. A ton of us tourists just watched as it bonked the fish off its beak and threw it into its mouth, almost cartoon-ish like. The trails are okay, but you can just stick to the main road. Trails may get muddy. We didn't see much while we were on them. This part of the park put my expectations so (unrealistically) high for the remainder of the trip lol. No need to worry about bugs either!