Anhinga Trail (Royal Palm)

The single best short wildlife walk in the Everglades. A 0.8-mile paved path and boardwalk loops over Taylor Slough, where the deeper water concentrates alligators, gar, turtles and the namesake anhinga drying its wings on the rails. In the dry season the density of animals within arm's reach of the boardwalk is hard to believe.

Tips: go at opening or in the last hour of light for the most activity. Pair it with the adjacent Gumbo Limbo Trail through a tropical hardwood hammock. Vultures at the Royal Palm parking lot are known to chew rubber on cars; tarps are provided.

About four miles inside the park from the Ernest F. Coe entrance.