Leading tours into
Louisiana's untamed wetlands comes naturally to Gerome Dupré
Everything
about Chacahoula Swamp Tours is down to earth. The weathered wooden shack that serves as
office, kitchen and dining room would sit as much at ease among the cypress trees along
the edge of the swamp as it does among the tour buses along Bayou Signette, just fifteen
minutes or so from New Orleans. Kittens nurse on the front porch, right next to the barrel
that holds the alligator snapping turtle Dupré saved from becoming someone's dinner, and
near the tub that a two-foot alligator reluctantly calls home. But Dupré's tour boats say
the most about his operation. Across the bayou from the huge-and as Dupré would say,
impersonal-cruisers of his competitors, Dupré's three swamp boats seem dwarfed in
comparison. But he is quick to point out their advantages. Chacahoula
uses no loudspeakers. Everyone can hear easily across even the biggest boat, a restored
Lafitte cypress skiff that holds 25-passengers. All aboard also can see, and Dupré
promises an eyeful on the trip that covers about eight miles of the LaFourche-Barataria
Basin. "Raccoons come right up to the boat and beg for marshmellows," he
says. Crows, alligators and herons approach near enough to touch, if you're brave. Dupré
calls out the names of the animals, first in Cajun French, then in English.
A
noted naturalist, he also offers the names of the plants of the swamp, many of them edible
and some medicinal. Dupré's knowledge of the flora and fauna of the basin is
impressive, and shows why his business has been successful. "It was natural," he
explains. "My whole family made their living from the swamp." Chacahoula itself
is a family business. Dupré's daughters, Danielle and Veronique, lead both plantation and
swamp tours. For several years, Dupré worked as a tour guide for one of the other
tour boat companies, but he tired of the commercial nature of the operation. "It's
not the way I wanted to show the swamp," he says. In 1987, Dupré started Chacahoula
Swamp Tours, a Choctaw Indian name that means "beloved cypress." Today,
Chacahoula attracts visitors from all over the world, eager for a taste of Dupré's
knowledge, and of the home-cooked lunch he offers at the end of the
tour.
Everything
about Chacahoula Swamp Tours is down to earth. The weathered wooden shack that serves as
office, kitchen and dining room would sit as much at ease among the cypress trees along
the edge of the swamp as it does among the tour buses along Bayou Signette, just fifteen
minutes or so from New Orleans. Kittens nurse on the front porch, right next to the barrel
that holds the alligator snapping turtle Dupré saved from becoming someone's dinner, and
near the tub that a two-foot alligator reluctantly calls home. But Dupré's tour boats say
the most about his operation. Across the bayou from the huge-and as Dupré would say,
impersonal-cruisers of his competitors, Dupré's three swamp boats seem dwarfed in
comparison. But he is quick to point out their advantages. Chacahoula
uses no loudspeakers. Everyone can hear easily across even the biggest boat, a restored
Lafitte cypress skiff that holds 25-passengers. All aboard also can see, and Dupré
promises an eyeful on the trip that covers about eight miles of the LaFourche-Barataria
Basin. "Raccoons come right up to the boat and beg for marshmellows," he
says. Crows, alligators and herons approach near enough to touch, if you're brave. Dupré
calls out the names of the animals, first in Cajun French, then in English. 
A
noted naturalist, he also offers the names of the plants of the swamp, many of them edible
and some medicinal. Dupré's knowledge of the flora and fauna of the basin is
impressive, and shows why his business has been successful. "It was natural," he
explains. "My whole family made their living from the swamp." Chacahoula itself
is a family business. Dupré's daughters, Danielle and Veronique, lead both plantation and
swamp tours. For several years, Dupré worked as a tour guide for one of the other
tour boat companies, but he tired of the commercial nature of the operation. "It's
not the way I wanted to show the swamp," he says. In 1987, Dupré started Chacahoula
Swamp Tours, a Choctaw Indian name that means "beloved cypress." Today,
Chacahoula attracts visitors from all over the world, eager for a taste of Dupré's
knowledge, and of the home-cooked lunch he offers at the end of the
tour.