Atchafalaya

The Atchafalaya is a great river and basin of swamps in southern Louisiana. Its name comes from the Choctaw hacha falaia, meaning “long river.” Fed by the Red River and waters from the Mississippi, it flows south through a lowland of bayous, lakes and cypress forest toward the Gulf of Mexico. Seasonal floods spread water and sediment across the basin, creating a shifting landscape where waterways divide and rejoin among marshes and wooded islands.