Swamp Boat Ride and Whitney Plantation Tour from New Orleans
Description
This tour combines the private Manchac Swamp with Whitney Plantation. A decade ago Whitney Plantation, circa 1752, opened its doors to the public for the first time in its history as the only plantation museum in Louisiana completely dedicated to the history of slavery. The experience at Whitney is a self-paced audio tour. Visitors to Whitney will gain a unique perspective on the enslaved people who lived and worked here through museum exhibits, restored historic outbuildings, and hundreds of first-person narratives. Then it's a short ride to a privately-owned wildlife refuge within the Manchac Swamp, where homegrown Cajun captains will take you on a journey back to the early days of swamp exploration. They'll guide the covered pontoon boat through the mystical cypress swamp while showing off the American Alligator and abundant wildlife. Learn the history of the town of Frenier and the Cajun culture of fishing, hunting, and trapping. Get the camera ready gators leaping up for a snack!
Tour Options
Itinerary
9am & 11am Departures - 7 1/2 Hour Tour Your Whitney Plantation experience will include an audio tour of the grounds.
Although called a lake, this is actually a large lagoon and brackish estuary fed by fresh water rivers and connected to the Gulf of Mexico. Covering 630 square miles (1600 km2) it is one of the largest wetlands in North America.
View the spillway, a flood control operation in the Lower Mississippi west of New Orleans. The spillway, when open, allows floodwaters from the Mississippi River to flow into Lake Pontchartrain and thence into the Gulf of Mexico.
This privately owned wildlife refuge ensures that you won’t encounter any other boats during your peaceful journey into the swamp. Local Cajun captains share personal tales of their own swamp explorations and fascinating information on the plants and wildlife you'll encounter. The primitive beauty of moss draped cypress tress and abundant wildlife guarantees some amazing pictures! Enjoy a beverage and snack from the open air pavilion.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(26)
What a great experience. Our guides were amazing and so full of knowledge. Kimberly and Dominique are the dynamic duo! 10/10 recommend
iv just returned from a full day tour of whitney plantation and swamp tour great combination the trip was made even better by the very informative,super friendly tour guide robert s what a guy he was superb and driver anton was excellent definitely recommend this tour 100 percent and try to get on with robert s thanks guys
They fill the bus so if traveling with someone or a group get there early. The driver and guide were great. Captain Dustin was amazing for the boat ride
The plantation and swamp tours were great and we learned a lot, but I’m docking one star due to poor communication about lunch. We were only told upon reaching Whitney, when the guide casually asked if the group was okay skipping lunch. After 1–2 people said yes, it was assumed everyone agreed, with no real option or warning beforehand. We spent the full 9–5 day in sweltering heat with only chips and chocolate, which made the experience much harder than it should have been. Food is important on a full-day tour, and better arrangements or clearer communication should be in place.
Great day easy to find starting point Lovely tour guide and bus driver self guided tour at the plantation amazing funny boat guide on the swamp got to see gators being fed and to hold a baby gator amazing day
This tour is a great way to cover two must do experiences in one day. Kimberly was knowledgeable and engaging. She took great care of us. We learned a lot from her.
The guide is exclusively English-speaking. I am French and did not understand anything of the explanations that seemed very informative. Perhaps consider a day for a French-speaking guide. The time is too short to visit the Whitney plantation. The bayou tour is too short. We quickly turned back. The fact of feeding animals with sweets to attract them was quite shocking.
Both the swamp ride and the Whitney Plantation were really great experiences. Swamp ride was informative and the tour guide answered all questions and made sure we left informed. Whitney Plantation had me crying for all the slaves who suffered at the hands of plantation owners and the public in general. We chose Whitney for the education they provide regarding the experiences of slaves. This is a history we need to keep alive and more people need to learn! Only recommendation is that they just put a note to either bring food/snacks or be prepared to purchase at a secondary location.
Kimberly was a wealth of knowledge and paced our tour and commentary really well. She spoke on Nola history, culture, food, and drink, and she even gave out prizes and loaned power banks with various cord outlets. Definitely recommend!
a beautiful day trip! kimberly, our guide for the entire trip, was fun and engaging and shared a lot of interesting history on new orleans. the tour through the whitney plantation was very interesting and moving. a quick stop at the Oak Alley plantation (much larger than the whitney plantation) for a quick lunch and then we headed off to the swamp tour where we saw an incredible variety of animals: many aligators but also wild pigs, raccoons, turtles, birds. it was lovely. the boats have a roof too so you don't get wet even when it rains which it did occasionally on our tour.
