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Atop a winding deep green bayou’s waters one day early this month a boatload of special guests gaped in awe at an American bald eagle, occasional turtles and a few alligators recently arisen from their winter’s rest.
The swamp critters they viewed had reason to do gaping of their own, considering the incongruous appearance of some.
Wearing outfits ranging from swamp tour casual to dark suits and ties, and even traditional African garb, the 30 or so mayors of French-speaking cities throughout the globe, or their staff members, took a break from a New Orleans convention to walk – or ride – on the wild side in upper Lafourche Parish.
The International Association of Francophone Mayors – city officials from places where French is the official language – held a convention in the Crescent City that began March 31.
Representatives from Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Africa discussed tourism development of tourism in Francophone cities and the contribution of the French language to political, economic and artistic development.
But time was also set aside for some who wished to soak up local culture in the bayou region.
Audrey Babineaux George, who operates the A La Maison Audrey Bed and Breakfast in Houma, helped coordinate the Bayou Region visit and hosted a reception at which alligator and other local delicacies were sampled, on behalf of the Cajun Bed and Breakfast Association of Terrebonne and Lafourche.
“It is a very rewarding experience whenever our culture and heritage is highlighted for visitors from around the world,” said George, who drafted other bed and breakfast operators to serve as translators and hosts.
The day began with a bus ride from New Orleans to Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie. The guests then traveled to the banks of Bayou Boeuf, a community where less than 20 years ago children still traveled on a barge from one side to the other in order to attend classes at the local elementary school.
They then boarded a boat at Zam’s Swamp Tour.
The tour’s operators and employees speak French, but not the varieties known to the guests. Lloyd Loupe, a Bayou Boeuf native who operates the tour with Diana Tregle, daughter of the swamp tour’s founders, speaks the Choctaw and German-laced French common to the area.
Derek Usea, another home-grown French speaker, tried his hand as well, to no avail.
A hired tour guide was able to pull it off in Parisian French, however, although the lush landscape of a swamp just waking up to spring needed little narrative.
In French, she likened alligators to dogs, noting that they tend to surface when they know food is about.
“This is an incredible honor for me,” Tregle said. “I have been doing tours ever since I can remember, and it is an honor to be chosen out of all the swamp tours they could have chosen.”
When gators were spotted the guests hurried to one side of the long, barge-bottomed boat or the other, using smart phones for video or photographic images.
The eagle – arriving to perch on a branch almost as if cued – drew French oohs and ahs and a flurry of photography.
Wearing the native dress of his country, Niger, Ibrahim Omarou said he was impressed by the raptor.
The premier chief assistant to the mayor of Niamey, the capital and largest city of the West African nation, Omarou said he was not as impressed by the alligators, noting “in my country we have crocodiles.”
Mayors of French-speaking world cities disembark from a boat at Zam’s Swamp Tours in Bayou Boeuf. Among them is Ibrahim Omarou, premier chief assistant to the mayor of Niamey, Niger, wearing traditional West African dress. Tour operator Diana Tregle (left) looks on.
