Swamps - Tumblr Posts
Swamps get a bad rap. People think of ‘swamps’ as the most ugly, mucky, gross place to be (heck, Shrek lives in one), but the word ‘swamp’ merely means a forested wetland. What are two of the most popular destinations for nature walks? Forests and wetlands, baby! Swamps are gorgeous and super vital to the ecosystem!
This beautiful destination is the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia:
Ever heard of the “Great Dismal Swamp” in Virginia? Do you imagine the most depressing, gross, scary place you’ve ever seen? It might look a bit haunting, but look how gorgeous the Great Dismal Swamp can be:
Oh yeah, did I mention that swamps are unbelievably rich in wildlife and rare plant species? For example, the Great Dismal Swamp has over 200 species of birds, over 70 species of reptiles and amphibians, and booming mammal populations (you’re very likely to see black bears and otters, for example). That doesn’t sound so dismal to me.
Speaking of wildlife, the Pantanal swamps in Brazil, Paraguay, and Bolivia are home to some rare and gorgeous animals like jaguars, hyacinth macaws, capybaras, caiman, giant otters, maned wolves, and more.
It’s easy to understand why swamps might get a bad reputation. They’re hard to travel on foot (many swamps now have boardwalk trails and canoe tours), and the stagnant water can smell bad and give a home to many bugs, which spread diseases. Cool animals like crocodiles and jaguars are bad news if you’re lost in the swamp and come face to face with one. But swamps are super important to the planet and are often way more beautiful than what you may be picturing!
One cool thing swamps do is absorb excess water like sponges so the surrounding areas don’t get badly flooded. In addition to the many animals that live in swamps, swamp plants often have medicinal value or other practical purposes. And despite their reputation for being dirty, swamps actually purify water because their thick plant growth and soil absorb impurities in the water!
Anyway, don’t drain the swamps!
Sestroretsk swamps, Leningrad region, Russia
Moscow, Russia 08.2023
Spring sings with a frog choir😚🎶
Весна поёт вместе с лягушачьим хором😚🎶
*… everything is overgrown, everything is swallowed up like it was just a dream. Vines, moss. Trees big as the skyscrapers downtown from the Academy that had to have grown in a day. I think sometimes I can hear them warbling. Like music..*
*—- can’t find my way back. The path forks. Over and over. Sometimes it feels like I’m in a tunnel, or maybe an egg. Everything bends up over me, and I can look down at myself, surrounded by so much green. Little lights dancing. I don’t remember the last time it was night, but I know there is no daylight here*
*I tripped and stumbled into a pool that glittered and crackled. It burned. It tasted like the sea on my lips, and now I feel it, layered over my bones, crashing waves to the pulse of my heart. I can feel the warbling. A Pattern—*
*I see so much in my vision. I see this place, all burnt and ragged rock, stretching off into the horizon broken by so many blazing mountains. I see this place as the Traveler sings to it, weaves life up from sulfur and hell and death, makes hazard into haven. I see this place, a seed tucked away in possibility, thinking. Unfolding. It looks back at me. Standing on so many cracks, marooned across so much potential. It has a single, blaring red eye*
*A saw a man in the forest. I saw a dragon that spoke to him. Fireflies danced around and between them like so many stars in the night, beautiful amber motes. The man looks like me, and I know I am him, but he is not— me. He has traded his memories for something so much more. I can feel what radiates out. It is so powerful willows around him groan faintly as they grow, white tendrils sprouting vermillion and violet flowers. Secrets are traded. Fates are sealed*
*A shadow crosses the ground and speaks so many lost names, smothering brass in rot, drowning glass in night, and I am falling, falling, falling*