Shark Valley

Besides the Royal Palm Visitors Center, the best single place where you can get a feel for the Everglades (and have an outstanding chance of seeing some wildlife) is the Shark Valley area. Located on the Tamiami Trail, midway between Miami and Naples, Shark Valley is the best place to go if you only have a few hours in which to try and see the 'Glades. The Park Service even make it as easy as possible: You can take an open-air tram (you know, like the ones that take you through the parking lot at Disney World) and take the circular route back into the swamp while learning a little something as the Ranger / Guide narrates and points out the fauna and flora. Or, if you have the energy and time, you can take the afternoon and your bicycle and pedal the 15 mile round trip deep into the park and back. It's an easy ride (assuming no wind) over flat terrain, and since you're not relying on motorized transport, you tend to be able to observe any animals from a closer range without disturbing them. (Of course you might just tend to spook them, like Carly is doing to the birds in the photo above.)

If the weather is favorable (not too hot), this can be a chance to get up close and personal with one of the local gators (although it's not recommended to get TOO close and personal!). We have seen as many as 30 to 40 lining the path or in the water in one circuit.
Then of course, sometimes they don't line the path, they cross it! Try rolling past one of these guys, big enough to stretch almost all the way across the road, and see if THAT doesn't get your adrenaline going. In the distance is the observation tower, at the furthest point into the park. From there you get an outstanding panorama for as far as the eye can see. It definitely gives you an idea of the flat, open expanse that to the early visitor must've have made this seem a desolate and foreboding place indeed.
	And, if you've taken your ride later in the afternoon, in addition to increasing the likelihood that you will encounter a wider variety of wildlife, you might enjoy seeing the water and sky turn to gold as the sun sets over the swamp.