Congaree National Park is known for a few things; old-growth hardwood trees, swamps, mosquitos, and fireflies! Although the fireflies are present in the park year-round, for just two weeks between May and June of each year, the fireflies synchronize together, flashing on and off, looking for a mate. With over 2,000 species found world-wide, there are only three species of synchronous flashing fireflies that can be found in North America.
Firefly Festival
Since the natural phenomenon is so unique and special, Congaree National Park hosts a special festival to help visitors experience the fireflies. Congaree NP employees and volunteers setup a special "Firefly Trail" to show off the beauty of these fireflies.
We arrived right at dusk, at about 8:30 pm, to an already filled parking lot. Employees were parking the remaining visitors along the street and a short walk lead us to the visitor center and the start of the firefly trail. A table with a few volunteers told us the best places to view the phenomenon and provided us with some red cellophane sheets, to cover our cameras view-finder and protect our/visitors night-vision.
The half-mile trail looped around the visitor center, providing amazing views of the synchronizing fireflies! I've seen fireflies a hundred times before, but never like this. One firefly would flash, then two more would join in, and so on. Soon, we saw dozens of fireflies flashing on-off all in unison, somehow connected and flashing at precisely the same time.
Photography
I was pleased everyone was respectfully quiet and courteous to each other as we watched. Volunteers asked anyone with a tripod to feel free to setup and take photos before the trail narrowed, which was plenty of room. Even with a tripod, capturing the fireflies was harder than expected... I'm not particularly pleased with any photo I took, but am happy I got to experience the phenomenon!
Photography Tips
- Use a tripod... It's impossible to capture the scene without one
- No cell phones, you need long exposure.
- Lengthen your shutter speed and reduce your ISO as much as you can to reduce grain
- Take a few photos in the same spot and make sure to change your exposure to get a bright forest in at least one shot. You'll be able to stack a few photos of different exposures to get a great photo (Wish I had done this!)
- Don't trust your eyes... Since your eyes are adjusted to the dark the photos come out darker than it looks in the view-finder on site. Get it a bit lighter than you'd like, without blowing the photo out.
- Be polite and use the red gel over your screen to protect others night-vision.
The Rain
We were on the trail for about 30 minutes and made it about halfway before it started raining... Although the forecast called for just a 20% chance of rain, we all got soaked! Everyone rushed to the visitor center to hide under the shelter. The fireflies didn't flash when it was raining, but we were assured they would come back out after the rain stops... except it never did. We reluctantly headed back to the Jeep, soaked, but we're satisfied with what we just experienced. Sometimes nature is stranger than science fiction!
Resources
If you want to learn more about the festival, checkout the official NPS site for Congaree NP or the firefly festival specific site!
