Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
Voice of America is funded by the US Federal Government and content it
exclusively produces is in the public domain.
May 27, 2007

Life is Primitive, Slow, in the Old Okefenokee
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=17A0B5E:A6F02AD83191E1605ED701956EE4AEF79574F7DCC14957C0 Swamp
is hard to get to, but worth the trip





On June 1, the U.S. Postal Service will this international stamp that
displays a lovely image of the Okefenokee Swamp, taken by photographer
Jose OzelThere are several places in America whose names are so
unusual, they are fun to pronounce. Places like Chattanooga in
Tennessee. Bogalousa in Louisiana. Moab in Utah. And a swamp called
the Okefenokee.

A good chunk of Florida is swampland. The famous Everglades, which are
really a slow-moving sheet of water rather than a stagnant swamp,
cover a huge portion of the southern part of the state. The
Okefenokee, which is partly in Florida and mostly in neighboring
Georgia, is a true swamp, with reptiles, tropical birds, and thick
vegetation. You'll find





The Okefenokee is densely packed with trees, water plants, and cacti.
Many rest on unstable islets that literally float on the waterorchids
in the Okefenokee, as you would in Hawaii. Even flesh-eating plants.

The primeval Okefenokee was formed in ancient times when waters from a
prehistoric ocean receded. Left behind was an 1,800-square-kilometer
wooded marsh.

There's not a big city within 200 kilometers of the Okefenokee, but
tourists from all over the world somehow manage to find it. They learn
that "Okefenokee" is an Indian name, meaning "land of trembling
earth." That's because floating islands in the swamp -- called
hammocks -- are so unstable, they tremble.







The bountiful cypress trees that grow in the dark waters of the
Okefenokee are sometimes laden with Spanish moss -- a romantic symbol
of the Old South.  The moss migrates in and gets nourishment from the
airOkefenokee water is dark, like tea that has steeped a long time.
The color comes from the chemical tannin, which seeps from cypress
trees so thick, they form arches overhead. The water moves slowly,
very slowly, unlike some of the air boats that skim through the swamp,
tearing up delicate foliage.

These screaming boats are but the latest threat -- along with wildlife
poaching and pollution from nearby developments -- to one of America's
last aboriginal places. Earlier this month, nature unleashed yet
another menace when a roaring wildfire charred more than 940 square
kilometers of woodland. That's about half of the Okefenokee Swamp.


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