Louisiana Swamp Tours for Christmas 2014

Swamp Fire

 The photo above illustrates the colors of the swamp in autumn when Bald Cypress trees begin to defoliate.

Well as of today the winter is officially on the calendar, and soon all the fiery colors of autumn will disappear.

And the swamp will take on a definite appearance of gray due to Spanish Moss and lickens being gray.

The best part of winter defoliation is we can see more wildlife as a result of no leaves on the trees.

The series of photos below were snapped by me on tour last week, all in a matter of less than a minute.

So... if you are a photographer or a bird watcher weather allowing this is a great time of the year to do a Louisiana Swamp Tour.

The five photos above demonstrates the constant beauty of the swamp, everywhere you turn.

If you are planning to do a tour with your family for the holidays,

I am in a boat that has seating for 10-15 people, as you can see above,
and I have associates with multiple boats with seats for up to 25 person per boat.

So even if you come with a busload of people, we can put several boats together and accommodate everyone at one time in several different boats that are in the water 24/7 for your convience

and the wildlife is never far away from the wharf where we depart.

I am Marcus de la Houssaye, and I can be reached at 337 298 2630 for a tour.

Louisianan Swamp Tours in December 2014

Yes I am doing tours as usual, by reservation only.

And...after the frost a couple of weeks ago, we now have swamp fire everywhere...

Bald Cypress is a conifer, but contrary to its kind(usually called evergreens), Bald Cypress is a deciduous conifer, meaning it loses it's leaves in the fall and winter. And when that happens suddenly like after a frost, the trees are temporarily a rich reddish orange color, as you can see above and below.

Soon everything will be gray after all the leaves are down as seen below.

In the meantime...

 In addition to my regular $20/person swamp tour, I offer custom services to special customers such as photo/bird watching safaris, or champagne sunset tours where we are private, and serve beverages and ordurves.   

These custom tours have become very popular with people wanting a private special occasion such as a family reunion, a wedding anniversary or birthday to be a swamp tour gift, and romantic, creative men have actually scheduled a champagne tour to drop the question.

If you want to make a reservation or get info about tours I can be reached at 337 298 2630.

Please be advised that I make my best effort to answer all calls, but if you call, and I answer while I am fishing or hunting, I may not have the option of booking your reservation on the spot because I got my hands full and chances are my reservation book is in the truck where it is safe from the wetlands lifestyle I live.

It has been brought to my attention that some people are upset that they called to make a reservation, and I politely answered at a time when my book was not in front of me and asked if I could call back later and we set up a tour then.  We agreed to make the reservation later, and when I called back to my truck, I was chewed out for not being ready to make that reservation when they called the first time.

Now I am here to serve my customers, but if you think that you own me and can abuse me or make demands of me Johnny on the spot, just because I advertise a service to the public and answer when you call, you don't know me, and I would prefer you don't call me. I am considerate, intelligent, and respectful to others, and I ask you be the same to me.

 

I make my best effort to serve my customers personal interests when possible, and I hope to make your visit to Louisiana memorable  and pleasant.

November Swamp Tours In Louisiana

This is a great month to be in Louisiana for a swamp tour if for no other reason we have natural air conditioning on a daily basis to go along with our natural beauty!

And now... Samuel, my pure bred wolf, can now come out of the protection of the shade tree and ride in the truck on a daily basis.

We did a tour yesterday as seen in the photo below and wow is this weather great?

If you were coming for the peace and quiet and natural beauty of Louisiana's wetlands with someone special, in addition to my regular 2 hour swamp tour,

I have been doing a lot of private custom tours where we serve champayne, wine or beer with some cheese and crackers at sunset.

My friends came out with me on a custom "private " tour a few years ago with wine, champayne, crackers and some stinky French cheese, and we sat in a beautiful spot with NO cell phones(wifes orders!) and we did my first ever Champayne tour at sunset,

and since then this thing is taking off and now I do it on a regular basis.

I have even been approached to organize an airboat entourage to do a wedding ceremony in the Grevemberg swamp of the Atchafalaya basin!


I am Marcus de la Houssaye, I and I am here to make your adventure happen!

I can be reached at 337 298 2630 for reservations.

de la Houssaye's Swamp Tours Alligator Video

de la Houssaye's Louisiana Swamp Tours Video

My Alligator Swamp Tours

Louisiana Swamp Tours August 2011

Louisiana Swamp Tours This Summer



Sunset on Lake Martin


For those of you who have been wondering where I have been, well, not online much!

But what a great summer weatherwise, because I like the rain and thunder!

Problem is if you are not doing sunset or a sunrise tour, the oppressive heat, humidity, and high possibility of thunderstoms makes doing mid day tours uncomfotable temperature wise or just rained out if you happen to catch a thunderstorm.

At any rate, if you come early or late in the summertime, you will see more wildlife overall and of course everyone wants to see alligators on a swamp tour so we are doing tours all day and even night tours, but the sunrise and sunset tours are premium and high quality compared to the sweat your ass off mid day variety so it is your call, and we will make our best effort to accomodate your swamp tour needs.

You can call me, Marcus de la Houssaye at 337 298 2630 for reservations, and if I am not available to drive your tour personally, we have several boats in the water 24/7 with drivers waiting for your adventure to happen day or night.  

Louisiana Swamp Tours March 2014

OK, here we go... it was frozen, and I mean ice covered everything, Mardi Gras, houses, cars, the trees and bridges 72 hours ago, and now we have 70 degree temperatures?

Such is the weather in south Louisiana!

I do not have my computer with my photos, so I can't put pictures in this post, but meet me at the lake in the next few days and I will give you opportunity to take your own photos, as I will be doing tours every day for the next few days or, as I like to say this time of year....weather allowing!

If you would like to call me for info or to make a reservation, I can be reached by cell phone at 337 298 2630.

I am Marcus de la Houssaye, and I will be the man driving the boat.

Springtime Swamp Tours In Louisiana

I am sorry, I cannot load photos yet, due to tech problems....but here is the text for now.


I went down to the lake today for the first time today to run the motor and survey the scene in anticipation of my first Louisiana swamp tour in months due to the fact that we actually had a winter to mention this year! (and....I am a deer tracker/hunter) My first tour is scheduled tomorrow, February 20th, at 1pm. It should be a good one considering the birds and alligators I saw today..


Well....the hunting season is over so I went and launched the boat, shot some video with my new water-proof camera, and noticed the water is up about one foot or so. Not actually where it was before that corporation who drained it back in September, hoping to do a little damage control on the fact that overzealous application of herbicide plant control killed fish twice last year. They promised the water would be pumped back in before the wading birds start to nest in the rookery, but that promise has NEVER been fulfilled by the morons who presume that a swamp is incapable of being managed by itself. But that is another blog post not yet ready to publish.


Anyway after 7 applications of herbicide plant control last winter and TWO fish kills, the lake has never looked worse biologically, but I shut up about plant control for two years to allow the damage to accumulate, and I have a lot of video, photo, and I am writing the story, as we speak...but you will get the full story here soon. I promise...


In the meantime, I am looking forward to these 70' temps in the forecast for the next few days.


If you want some Lake Martin swamp, come get it, the weather is fine.


I am Marcus de la Houssaye, and I will be the man driving the boat if would like to join me, I can be reached at 337 298 2630 for info and reservations.


below is a video from a couple of years ago, a good example of my swamp tours...

Louisiana Swamp Tours 2014

Ok, I know y'all are coming here to escape the frozen north, and do a de la Houssaye's Swamp Tour, because the rest of the country is and has been frozen for some time, but.... here in the swamp, where we rarely ever see frozen plants, it has been frozen too, but not like the Great Lakes!








Therefore if you are looking to do a tour this time of year, I can only guarantee you that March will be a better month tour wise than the last three, just because the freezes are officially ALMOST over!






Therefore I am planning to do some Louisiana swamp tours as soon as the Whitetail deer season closes on February 15th, as I and the dogs are professional trackers during deer season. (click the link to read a story)








I am currently experiencing some technical difficulties loading pictures, so I will leave this post as text only, for the moment and yes I am doing Louisiana swamp tours, when it warms up, and that will be soon.




and I wish I could share some of those swamp images ...but that is coming soon too.


and I thought computers were supposed to make life simpler?






I am Marcus de la Houssaye, and I will be the man driving the boat, on your Lafayette, Louisiana swamp tour, should you need to call to make a reservation: call me at 337 298 2630


Thank you