New Orleans

[kevin_oke]

I'm heading to New Orleans at the end of June. Could you recommend

good wildlife photo areas within a 2 or 3 hour drive? Are there any

good rental outfits that would have 500mm - 600mm lenses available

for Nikon?

 

Cheers

[bliorg]

Or for Canon, for that matter...

 

This question (kinda) was posted a while back, with few responses. I'll offer this: There are gator farms in Slidell, the Atchafalaya basin begins around Baton Rouge (I think), and the Gulf is to the South. Wildlife is <i>everywhere</i> in Louisiana ("Sportsman's Paradise"); if the idea of an alligator farm feels alien to you, take a swamp tour - you'll still see 'em. You can see a lot of crawfish farms along I-10 - there's always egrets and roseate spoonbills feasting. There's also the Audubon Zoo in NO; though that's not exactly wildlife...

[howard_creech1]

Kevin, there is good news (Louisiana is crawling with wildlife and wonderful, unique scenery) and there is bad news (much of it ...both wildlife and scenery...is not easy to get to) First, there are some great opportunities in the Jean Lafitte NP, south of New Orleans...they have an office behind the French Market...near the Esplanade end of Decatur St. in the French Quarter. Between Abbeyville and Lake Charles is a 100 stretch of mostly coastal marsh and salt dome islands that includes the Rockefeller NWR, Lacassine NWR, Sabine NWR, and Cameron Prairie NWR. The Atchafalaya is huge, and most of it is not possible without a boat and a guide (try the Whiskey River offramp from I-10) There is also Caddo Lake in NW LA. near Shreveport...if you are only going to be around for a few days the best choices would be Jean LaFitte (there is a boardwalk at Barataria Island) or Sabine NWR, which also has a boardwalk...stock up on mosquito repellent, the LA "skeeters" have been known to carry off photographers who are not prepared. The gators are harmless as long as you don't get too close...but the Water Moccassins are aggressive and competent, and plentiful anywhere near water (which is anywhere in LA) The is also the Honey Island Swamp (which is actually inside the New Orleans city limits)...regularly scheduled boat tours are available from all hotels...and just north of New Orleans is the Manchac Swamp...tours depart from New Orleans every day....Don't miss eating at Tujaques on Decatur St. Equipment rentals are pretty slim...but try the phone book. Have fun and good shooting.

[paul_wade]

I'll answer the rental question first. NO! Sorry We are kinda backwards in this town. If I need a rental unit I call Calumet. Second there are many great places to shoot critters down here. If you want to take swamp pix I would reccomend an Air boat tour. They are higher than a normal swamp tour but much better. (Or you could do what I did, buy a hovercraft. THAT is the ONLY way to get thru the swamp. But I brag and digress.)

 

Now if you don't have a problem with pictures of critter in captivity there is a GREAT place to take picture. It is called the Global Wildlife Preserve. It is 900 acres where they have over 1500 animals from all over the world just running free. No cages or fences other than around the 900 acers. For $25 per hour you can get a jeep and a driver to take you around the grounds and you can shoot any animals you like. They also have babies of one kind or another all year round. If you ask the driver to bring you to the nearest babies they will. Or ask the driver which animal is the rarest. When I went they had a deer that had been reduced to 60 in the world. They are now only up to about 350. They had about 8 of them at Global and had babies.

 

It preserve is about 50min North of New Orleans. The URL is

www.globalwildlife.com (from memory)

 

If you have any more questions or want to ride in the hover send me mail.

 

Paul