Everglades, Gatorville, USA

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A 60cm deep, 80km wide and 160km long very slow moving river of grass dappled with tree islands, herons, pelicans and 14ft alligators sunbathing at multiple points along its roads, the Everglades is more than satisfactory entertainment.

This was especially the case for my girlfriend, a Florida friend and me, due to our quick-witted guide, an Indian-American (as apposed to American Indian) park ranger, his shock of peroxide like white hair juxtoposing brilliantly with his aging dark skin as he provided a score of entertaining historical facts and nature tales on a bus tour we opted for as a result of certain time limitations.

A river of grass

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While the history of the area: its use by early Indians, role as a haven for early criminals and appeal, in colonial times, as a location to acquire exotic, lucrative, bird life, had me very much engaged, of particular interest was some information about the problem reeked upon the park by the 20ft Burmese Python - an introduced species thought to now number in the thousands.

An Alien v. Predator style battle between a 20ft python and 14ft alligator, which apparently, with the aid of helicopter photography, was relayed to a captivated national audience, was described in detail by our charming host. The contest, it seems, was a 24 hour dual, which saw each party employing its own vastly different skill set with an intriguing varying degree of success – great television!

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It ended in a draw but the python, suffering from heavy blood loss, soon passed away thus theoretically (or perhaps technically?) making the alligator the victor.

Apparently, much to the detriment of the fragile ecosystem of the park, this is not the norm, and pythons killing alligators among other things (the insatiable thirst of the relentlessly reproducing homo sapiens being one of them), is causing untold damage - in particular to gator holes which provide a significant ecological service as temporary watery homes for many animals each year (when the waters subside and the alligators stop eating and sleep).