Thibodaux, Louisiana: Zam's Swamp Tours

Lots of local gossip from the local characters who show you around the swamp in a little boat.

When I visited Zam's tours I had the most wonderful time. The tour guide is hot. Wild Bill is a very interesting man. The tour of the old and ancient turtles was very interesting. And the alligators were scary, but real. I don't recommend going over the fence. Wild Bill really knows what he's talking about, so I listened carefully and trusted his every demand when he told his spine-tingling stories on the Bayou...and not to get out of the boats.

Try Edwina's terrific meals. She's the bomb when it comes to cooking up some Cajun food.

In my visit to New Orleans, Louisiana, I drove to check out Zam's Swamp Tour. My hope was to take some great shots of the "poor run down town" as was previously described and to check out the alligator skulls and processing plant for gator meat. What I found was no skulls, no processing plant anymore, and the town -- including Zam's relatives home -- was anything but poor. It looked like many suburbs I have seen. I had already taken a swamp tour on Honey Swamp, so it was my interest in the other that I drove the distance from New Orleans. The ride out there wasn't too bad, so the trip to check out Zam's wasn't a total disappointment.

Zam's tour is the best deal west of the Mississippi. Two hours of riparian entertainment, complete with a trip to his petting zoo in his back yard, which included: a harem of slimy, sultry she-gators who eyeball you warily from the muddy fenced in pond, pythons that you get to hold, snapping turtles, prehistoric fish, and ducks.

Also - make sure to stop for lunch at Trudy's...

Zam, according to Randy, our guide for today, passed a few years ago, and control of the business passed to his daughter Denise. When we visited, a character named Diego was running the gift shop.