Marco Safari!

Marco resident Glenn Livesey has made a living entertaining visitors to the island for years, whether it be aboard a kayak or tucked inside the pages of one of his satirical books lampooning the daily lives of Marco Islanders. Now it appears the creative entrepreneur has done it again with his new Marco Island Safari Truck Tour business.

Glenn owned and operated Paddle Marco for over a decade until his body told him it was time to find a less physically demanding way to earn a living. In his wildly popular books, Good Morning Marco Island and Goodnight Marco Island, Glenn demonstrates a real talent for poking fun at many of the quirky issues that get Marco Islanders worked into a tizzy.  It is perhaps this keen insight into what makes people tick on this sub-tropical island that has led this renaissance man to start a safari truck tour business.

“It’s something that Marco hasn’t seen before,” he said. “They used to have a trolley, but I don’t think it did anything with wildlife or a PA system.”

Originally, Glenn wanted to start a trolley tour but thought better of it after the trolley concept for the island recently became such a hot-button issue.

"I first wanted to do a trolley tour,” he said, "I was going to order a $200,000 trolley. Then I read all these horrible things that Marco hates trolleys.”

He was concerned that potential customers would do internet searches and read negative articles about trolleys that had nothing to do with him or his business.

"I nixed the trolley and decided I wanted to do this land tour,” he said.

He reasons that not everyone wants to—or is able to—do a sightseeing tour on the water. So why not offer them a guided land tour? 

“You can see the wildlife and not have to get seasick or get wet,” Glenn said, flashing his trademark humor. “On an island where everything is by water, here's something different." 

Glenn invited the Coastal Breeze News to enjoy a Safari Truck Tour recently. We found the one-and-a-half-hour tour enjoyable, as did the others on the sold-out tour.

No one on our tour required a wheelchair lift, but there is one available. The tour contained plenty of Glenn’s humor, a nice dose of Marco Island history, an easy 10-minute nature walk at the Otter Mound Preserve in the Estates Area, and plenty of wildlife experiences.

"By land, I can cater to the people that may not have the stability to get on a boat or handle a boat,” he said. "I get a lot of folks that need to use a wheelchair lift. This is another way to see all the animals that live on the land.”

On our tour, we encountered perhaps the island’s most popular land-based wildlife: gopher tortoises and burrowing owls. Glenn also delivered a bald eagle sighting, an osprey, and even an iguana, the scourge of the island. With the recent cold snap, Glenn encountered iguanas that fell prey to the cold.

“Last week, we had two different days with two cold, stunned iguanas at Otter Mound lying in the trail,” said Glenn. “People were pretty freaked out about that. So, I have to work the lizard blizzard into my talk."

You may wonder how Glenn settled on the idea of a Safari truck.

"I looked at golf carts,” he said. "Nothing would hold a charge to carry 12-14 people. And I didn't know if they could get up Indian Hill. So, I nixed the golf cart."

Then he happened on the Dodge Ram Safari Kit.

“I thought, that's bad! Let's do that!"

The folks on our tour clearly loved the safari truck, adorned with clever graphics depicting much of the wildlife that is encountered on any given tour. In fact, they couldn’t wait to pose for pictures in front of it when we stopped at Otter Mound Preserve. And it definitely turns heads as Glenn circumnavigates the island.

Terry and Marissa Gould of Toronto were among the happy customers on our tour.

"I really enjoyed it, actually,” said Terry. "It was pretty fun. I got to see a lot of different sights. It's nice just to get that guided tour. We're not familiar with the island, so it's a great introduction for somebody that hasn't lived here before."

"So, probably a month ago, I didn't even know what Marco Island was,” Marissa said. "I won a trip. I didn’t even know it existed. I had to Google it. Because I'm one of the TD Bank employees that won a trip, and we were at the JW Marriott, I thought I'd Google things to do in Marco Island. I thought we'd extend our stay. So, this is the best thing to do, just get a history of the island and get to know the interesting places. I was interested in learning more about the city and the island. I'm gonna send a text to TD and say, 'yeah, you definitely need to do this for the employees.’ 

To book a Marco Island Safari Truck Tour visit www.MarcoIslandSafari.com or call 239-507-2190.