Geography has dealt Florida a lavish hand when it comes to natural gifts. The Sunshine State is filled with unusual flora and fauna. South Florida is home to the endangered Florida panthers and the only North America crocodiles. The Everglades swarms with wildlife from birds such as wood storks, ibises, flamingos, roseate spoonbills and dozens of others to mammals such as black bears, bobcats, fox squirrels and raccoons. When it comes to reptiles, you will find more alligators than you ever dreamed of as well as gopher tortoises, caimans, green anoles, five lined skinks and hundreds of other snakes, turtles and lizards.  

Take a boat ride into the surrounding waters of the Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico, you will find dolphins dancing in your wake.

Drop on down to Big Pine Key, which is the only place you can encounter the tiny Key deer in the wild. You will probably spot a few sun-loving iguanas as you island hop through the Keys.

South Florida’s plant life is also abundant and rich. From the native mangroves, which are at the root of the food chain to the colorful exotic Brazilian pepper, which threatens native plant life but seems impossible to eradicate to the delicate wild orchids, which thrive on air alone, your senses will be overwhelmed by the color and variety.

Then there are also all the refuges, preserves, parks and zoos that make South Florida a nature lover’s paradise.