The Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge covers almost 7,000 acres on Sanibel Island. The unique subtropical mangrove estuary is home to hundreds of species.
The richness of the reserve is incredible. In a morning's hike down the Indigo Trail, we saw hundreds of birds, leaping tarpon, crabs and shellfish, and two alligators. The first gator was a smallish one (6 feet long?) who splashed up onto the bank beside us to nap in the sun. We encountered the second much larger gator on our way back to the park center. Someone had thoughtfully scratched an arrow in the gravel path pointing to this monster (10-12 feet), who was peacefully snoozing on a sandbar.
You can experience the reserve by bicycle, on foot (probably best--we would probably have missed the gators had we been on bikes), or by car on the Wildlife Drive (which is closed for repair til mid-December, 2001).
The Park Center offers guided ranger tours on foot and by canoe. If you want to experience the reserve from the water, you can also rent a canoe or kayak at the Tarpon Bay Recreation Area and paddle a water trail through the mangroves. See my separate review.
If you're wondering about the unusual name, JN "Ding" Darling was a prominent political cartoonist in the 1930s and 40s. He was a champion of conservationism and was head of the US Biological Survey under President. Franklin Roosevelt. Darling had a winter home on Captiva Island and worked to protect large parts of Sanibel and Captiva from development.