Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive

On this 11 mile packed surface, one way road, you will enjoy seeing numerous species of birds, alligators and possibly other animals. It’s free and a nice way to relax and enjoy time in a beautiful area. We saw 37 alligators in their natural habitat. There is an audio guide you can listen to while driving also.

This is a great "Drive around/Through" type reserve. But not great for abundance of wildlife nor plant palette. On a good day you can catch a couple of good gators to film or a hawk or osprey. Plenty of egrets and herons. Sometime the traffic can be a bit much as well. But overall, it's not bad.

Wonderful place to drive and look at nature. You can also park at the pump house and take a walk however please be ready to encounter large alligators along the path. There is a spot to park your car outside of the gates and ride your bicycle as well. Leave yourself plenty of time, the trails are long especially if you are stopping to take photographs along the way. You need to enter before 3PM. When you leave, just pull up to the electric gate and it will open.

Love this place and all of the wildlife that you can see! It definitely lives up to it's name. We also went in the car one time and drove around. Lots of photo ops. Being in the car can get a bit long because everyone else wanted to do photo ops, and you have to wait because single lane, but we went on bikes this time during the week when it's closed to cars. Seeing all the Gators up close was really cool.

Thoroughly enjoyed our leisurely drive through this wildlife area. Restrooms available at various points too. Easy to stop and take pictures with several pull-over areas along the (one way) 11 mile trail. Entirely free (unusual in itself) and highly recommended if you want a slower paced break away from the usual tourist areas/activities.