Duration: 2:28

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A school of Florida gar fish dart by the opposite direction as our canoe slides across the crystal clear water. The air is rich with plants, rotting moss, and wet earth. Its broken oaks, pine trees, palm trees and other flora creates a jungle-like terrain that beckons to be explored. Barricaded by lush green vegetation and bird songs, Silver River is a piece of paradise in Florida. Scattered along the route are various wildlife -alligators, turtles, various birds, manatees, deer, river otters, raccoons....and, yes, monkies!

The ruins of a log gaurd tower peaks from the woods like a ghost. Cabins stand abandoned, consumed by nature and neglect. We paddled by the former filming location for Tarzan in the 1930s and 1940s, and relics of former Silver Spring's campground and trade shop scatter the vegetation.

Paddlers are treated to a diverse wildlife population. Alligators bathed in the sunlight. A monkey swings from one tree to the next, pursuing another. Sunlight glints off a turtle's shell as it lay on a log, and what looks like a gray stone floating beneath the surface near the canoe is a manatee. By the time I readied my camera, it's gone. The best pictures aren't meant to be captured.

Music Credit: "Swamp Stomp" by Silent Partner.