Congaree

Congaree National Park in South Carolina is the northern-most swamp we visited.  It claims to be one of the last remaining old growth swamps in America.  In the visitor’s centre is a map that shows how swamp land once extended all across the south east from the Carolinas to Louisiana. By this time we had seen a lot of swamp land and had come to an appreciation of their finer qualities, although that could change with the seasons.  It made me reconsider the caution against  buying swampland in Florida.  

Congaree has a number of walking paths, including a boardwalk through the swamp.  It is also possible to canoe through the park, although when we were there it was a bit cool.  The park itself has organized walking tours along the boardwalk.  One is a birdwatching walk and the other is a naturalist walk covering the trees and the swamp etc.  We took both.  They are free.  

The birdwatching tour was more interesting than I had expected. The guide pointed out that hearing is as much a part of birding as is seeing, so we spent a lot of time listening for the birds.  This puts a new light on the subject of birding.  My iPad-based Bird book includes bird sounds.

The Park boasts several national championship trees, meaning the tallest/oldest trees of their species.  We saw the a former championship Loblolly Pine which is nearly 50 meters tall and is  thought to be over 200 years old.