The Bayou, near New Orleans, USA, 11th November 2014.

For our last day in New Orleans we organised a Bayou Tour which proved quite delightful.  I was fortunate to get a place in the boat with a clear view for taking photographs.  Particularly early on, we saw several small alligators.

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If you look carefully (or click on the image to see it larger), you will see that there is a crane sitting in a large nest at the top of this tree.

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Gliding slowly through backwaters of the bayou, which of course is part of the Mississippi delta..

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Another boat coming up a channel…

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My main preconceptions of the Bayou derived from Down by Law, a 1986 film in which Tom Waits and two others escape from prison into the Bayou.

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The Bayou is disappearing, though.  It was previously renewed by silt deposited by Mississippi floodwaters.  These days, the levees channel most of that water out to the Gulf of Mexico.  Consequently, the Gulf is eating away at the Bayou which is losing 65 square kilometres (25 sq. miles) a year.  The Bayou is a significant wildlife habitat and fishery and it also helps protect country further inland from hurricanes.

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