On the Bayou

It's a wonderfully ethereal landscape - the Bayou, the lattice of brackish, slow-moving waterways in the Mississippi delta. We went on a 'swamp tour' just outside New Orleans, a tourist venture, raucous at times, but a memorable glimpse of this curiously bewitching place.

The light coloured, feathery, ectoplasm-like foliage is Japanese moss, a fungus which thrives on the Bayou.

The big attraction of the Bayou is its alligators - lots of them. The Cajun guides on the boats feed them marsh mallows, clearly a much valued reptilian treat. Some of these alligators swim towards the boats in anticipation of the titbits on offer. They are accustomed to the tourist boats, but there is still a menacing majesty to these beasts.

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This was a highlight of ten days in the US - which took me and my son to Miami and New York as well as New Orleans. To quote Hank Williams: 

Jambalaya, crawfish pie and fillet gumbo
For tonight, I'm-a gonna see my ma cher a mi-o
Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-o
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou