Before I told you that there is an Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park in Florida where you can admire wildlife in natural conditions but with all the amenities.
The park is state-owned, owned by the state, but organized with donations from Ellie Schiller, as noted in the title.
The main representative of the park is, of course, the manatee.🤗
They are 10 feet each, weigh under a ton, and are very slow and harmless animals, which at one time were almost exterminated by American residents.
As far as I know, in the United States today, these manatees are taken very seriously.
There is even a state law on harassment of manatees.
And harassment refers to very specific actions:
- Feed and lure manatees
- Separate mother and baby
- Chase manatees
- Disturb sleeping manatees
- Hit or hurt a manatee
- Hold on to it, or ride a manatee.
- Â Interfere with the movement of the manatee
- Hunt or just kill a manatee
There are also many different birds in the park, including pink flamingos; all of them are ringed and strictly accounted for.
Immediately among them, white swans swim, which constantly annoy flamingos, which have to hiss at these impudent ones who have disturbed the peaceful afternoon sleep.
Pelicans come and go as they please, as do lapwings and some other species that live there.
They fly away on their bird affairs and fly back; they are comfortable there; no one touches them; and they feed everyone who wants it strictly by the hour.
How do pelicans know what time it is? But they arrive at exactly the right time.
Ducks have learned how to beg for crackers and pieces of bread; they rear up and begin their dance.
The park workers, of course, do not approve of this feeding, but they don’t run after anyone with a stick; just another employee passing by makes a slight remark that it will be difficult for them to get food in the wild when you leave.
There is also a small enclosure fenced with a net on all sides, covered both from all sides and from above with a thin net, where live birds are kept and are never released.
Entrance through a double vestibule. You can buy food and feed the birds.
There is also an old hippo in the park; his name is Lou. On average, hippos live 40–50 years, but Lou is the oldest hippo in North America; he is already 58 years old.
Most of the day he sleeps in the water; only his ears and nose stick out, but he still has to go ashore for lunch.
Also in the Park there are red wolf, cougars, these do not like when you are approached.
They live behind a metal mesh, but there is a special observation deck with benches where the walls are made of monolithic polycarbonate so that you can sit quietly and not interfere with the mesh; at the same time, the strange smell does not irritate the animals so much.
A black bear, with scars on his buttocks, sadly wandered around his enclosure.
I remember that in a neighboring paddock, a couple of key deer were peacefully chewing grass—the smallest deer, an endangered species.
In general, each pet here has its own unique story.
But all the animals are here for one reason: they cannot survive in the wild on their own.
For example, the hippopotamus Lou has been performing at some shows since childhood, but when he got old, he got here, someone ended up here all wounded, and someone was brought as a small cub.
Can You Swim at Homosassa Springs State Park?
Yes, there are organized boats every hour that bring you close to the manatees, and you can swim with them in an organized area.
Curious and friendly, manatees will almost certainly come up to greet those snorkeling or swimming and may even roll over to tickle them.
Or you can walk around looking at the wildlife of Florida, which is also a pleasure.
No need to wade through the mangroves; paths are laid everywhere, and over the channels there are bridges with railings.
Now a little about the fish.
There is an underwater observatory that is located in a large natural spring karst basin. This little green house is a descent into the water.
You can take a look at the dances of fish flocks from above.
But it is better to go down the stairs to the round underwater room with polycarbonate windows. There, you can see aquatic life in its natural habitat.
There are not many places in the underwater bunker, but no one is pushing; we looked here and there and moved on.
Are There Alligators in Homosassa Springs, FL?
Yes, and in some places it is better not to get too close to the water; the alligators are probably fed, but who knows? What if they want to try the human body?😂
For people and kids in alligator backwaters, there are some signs that they are stuck: “No Swimming!”
When Can You See Manatees in Homosassa?
In winter and spring, these are the best times to see manatees.
While on a short vacation in Florida, we simply couldn’t pass up the chance to try and see the manatees.
And the season was right: winter and spring are the best times. Animals are extremely thermophilic, and in cold weather they huddle in heaps in coastal, warm Florida waters.
The fact is that swimming with manatees is very common among Americans.
There are many places where this is offered, such as Homosassa Springs.
And when swimming with manatees, they strictly warn that, for example, you can touch it with only one hand, and using two hands at the same time is already an illegal action.
And in fact, I know that they once severely fined a Chinese tourist $2,000 for riding a manatee.
This is the attitude of the Americans towards these good creatures.
What Time Does Homosassa Springs Open?
It is open 365 days a year from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Entrance to the park is $13.00 per person.
There is a parking lot in front of the entrance.
Everything is made for the people.
Even those who are tired can rest on the benches. All of them are named, with the names of the sponsors of the park: simple, modest, and functional.