Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park - Florida

Home to the famed ghost orchid, Fakahatchee Strand Preserve is known to many as the "Amazon of North America." The Park is home to a variety of forests and habitats, from swamp and prairie to tropical hardwood hammock and pine rock land, and boasts over 50 types of orchids, making it the Orchid Capital of the continent. In addition to the exotic flowers, Fakahatchee is also home to Royal Palm, bald cypress, bromeliads, and ferns, which can be seen on the guided tours. Visitors will enjoy the 2,000-foot-long boardwalk, which allows you to get up close to the amazing natural beauty here. And for the ambitious park-goer - don't miss the waist-deep swamp walks and canoe trips at Fakahatchee State Park!

Welcome to the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, the "Amazon of North America." The Fakahatchee Strand is a linear swamp forest, approximately twenty miles long by five miles wide and oriented from north to south. It has been sculpted by the movement of water for thousands of years and clean fresh water is the key to its existence. Beneath a protective canopy of bald cypress trees flows a slow moving, shallow river or slough that is warmer than the ambient temperature in the winter and cooler in the summer. The buffering effect of the slough and the deeper lakes that punctuate it shield the forest interior from extreme cold temperatures and this fosters a high level of rare and endangered tropical plant species.