Houma, Louisiana is located about an hour from New Orleans and it’s a destination worth discovering.
Guests who visit will find that it’s a great place for gator-themed adventures and fantastic Cajun food!
Get an overview of the Area at Houma Visitor Center
114 Tourist Dr, Gray, LA
When I visit a destination for the first time, I love to stop at the visitor center first so that we can get an overview of the area.
The Houma Visitor Center is a great resource to find insider tips from locals. You’ll learn about things to do in the area, local places to eat, and adventures not to miss.
The name Houma means “red” and dates back to a Native American tribe of Houma people in Louisiana who resided near the Red River.
Stop for a Roadside Attraction
When you arrive, don’t forget to get a picture with the giant white boots in front of the visitor center.
The white boots are common for anyone who spends time outdoors fishing or crabbing.
Another perk of making a stop at the Houma Visitor Center is that they have Mr. Ronnie’s delicious glazed donuts, making your stop even sweeter.
Houma is home to local celebrity RJ Molinere and his son Jay Paul of History Channel’s Swamp People. The swamps in Houma are the filming location for the gator hunting reality show.
Sign the Virtual Guestbook
Don’t forget to sign the virtual guestbook before you go. You’ll join other visitors on a virtual map from around the world. You can even email the picture to yourself to keep as a reminder of your visit.
Take a Geocaching Tour
If you are into geocaching you will definitely want to check out Louisana’s first and only GeoTour with over 50 geocaches.
If you are unfamiliar with geocaching, it’s basically a GPS based scavenger hunt that turns your time outdoors into an exciting adventure.
You choose the geocache that you want to find, follow the coordinates, and then look for a cache. After you find the cache sign the logbook and you can continue to look for more caches.
How to start geocaching
Sign up for a free Geocaching account and then download the Geocaching app. You can find the Houma Travel GeoTour when you search for GeoTours by location as one of the GeoTours that you can take.
The Houma Travel GeoTour descriptions also give you a lot of interesting background stories and additional information about the area which will enhance your adventure.
Experience an Airboat tour with RJ Molinere of History Channel’s Swamp People
One of the highlights from our visit was the privilege of taking an airboat ride with RJ Molinere. He is known from the History Channel reality show “Swamp People.”
RJ is now offering Airboat ride tours in French because he noticed that there was a need for visitors who didn’t speak English who wanted to learn about the area. (he also offers airboat tours in English too) .
We learned SO MUCH about gators from our time together. We saw a few gators, and we even learned how to spot gator tracks.
RJ also pointed out different species of birds and shared about the ecology of the swamp.
RJ’s mom taught him how to hunt gators and live off of the land when he was 18, back in 1979. Gator hunting is not just for sport and every part of the gator that is hunted is used from head to tail.
RJ took the time to answer so many of our questions and shared so many interesting stories along the way. He also pulled up a crabbing trap and told us how we can identify them in the water.
During our tour, we spotted RJ’s son Jay Paul out on the water fishing with his kids. RJ shared with us that the only way that he agreed to do the reality show was if he could do it with his son.
The site from “10 deadliest Swamp People scariest moments”
RJ even showed us the area of the swamp where his son Jay Paul wrestled an alligator in the water.