The Pearl River Swamp Tour is fantastic. More education, less show. Captain John was able to provide history and information about the ecology of the area. He really loves the river, swamp and bayou.We saw egrets, a few alligators, racoons (that are brown and blonde, not the black and white ones that come out at night in the SFV), turtles, snakes, and a wild pig on the regular tour. The alligators are just now coming out of winter hibernation. Once the weather is consistently warmer (70+ degrees), there will be more.What was also great was the fact that Captain John grew up on this river and swamp. He was able to tell about the foliage as well as the animals. For example, the Bald Cypress growing in the swamp is a member of the Redwood Family, which grows in the Sierra and along the coast of California, where we are from.When you are able to travel to New Orleans, be sure and schedule a trip with Pearl River Swamp Tours. Thank you Captain John!

Big thanks to Capt John. His experience and love for the area shows in his navigation of the river, swamp, and bayou waters. Thank you for an enjoyable experience! And thank you to the courtesy driver Bev from Cajun Encounters for making the 40 minute driver to the swamps fun. We saw egrets, herons, alligators, turtles, snakes, and wild pigs on this tour. (We chose the regular tour, not the VIP one.) We hear that bigger gators can be seen later in the summer - August to September. So plan accordingly. And remember to wear a light jacket just in case it gets cold.

My partner and I took one of these tours, and had the time of our lives today! Originally, we had booked a self-transport tour with another tour group by accident, which was a big issue since we didn’t travel here with a car. They told us that they could book us with their sister company, Pearl River Swamp Tours and bring us down by bus. It ended up being the best mistake we had ever made. We got to see so much wildlife, including blonde raccoons, which I didn’t even know existed. Our tour guide had spent 20 years working as a game warden, and could tell us everything from the kinds of plants that were floating in the water, to the history of the river. He also seemed to have a really caring relationship with the animals on the tour, telling us their ages and when they first were spotted in the area. When a blonde raccoon came up to him, he was excited because he hadn’t seen her for a while. This is hands down the best swamp tour I’ve ever been on, and I could not recommend it more.

We reserved our 2/19/20 PearlRiver Eco Swamp Tour for #6 people on the PearlRiver website. Little did we know but PearlRiver is the “sister company” to another swamp tour company, and was not ECO friendly at all. The bus was late, the customer service people were abrupt and did not disclose that the swamp tours were all “one company” now. Very deceiving. I would not recommend PearlRiver Swamp Tours (last review on their website was in 2016!), because that is not who is representing your tour and it is NOT Eco friendly (marshmallows were fed to the raccoons to attract them...Oh please). The best part about our PearlRiver Swamp Tour was our guide, “Captain John” , who was very knowledgeable and most accommodating in the rain and cold.

This is where you have to go for the best swamp tour ever in NOLA. There are others but these folks are the best. Captain John was amazing and knowledgeable. We learned a lot and saw so many plants and critters. Great time!!!!