Gator Country Louisiana

South of the oldest permanent European settlement in the Louisiana Purchase territory, more than 250 American alligators live in the largest alligator park in Louisiana. Gator Country runs boat tours and feeding shows, programs that cover Louisiana wetland ecology, alligator behavior, and conservation — hands-on educational exhibits that put visitors in direct contact with the species that occupy the state's swamps and bottomlands year-round. Natchitoches was established in 1714 as a French outpost on the Red River for trade with Spanish-controlled Mexico. When the river shifted course, it bypassed the city and cut off its connection to the Mississippi River, leaving a 33-mile oxbow lake called Cane River Lake. The park's programs cover the wetland ecology shaped by that shift — the environments that gators have occupied while cities rose and rivers moved. Popular with families. Plan for one to two hours. Located south of Natchitoches off I-49. Check gatorcountrylouisiana.com for hours and admission.