![]() The effect isn’t a lights-on-lights-off situation, as I’d expected it’s more like watching a stadium wave, when members of a crowd successively lift their hands. Before long, there are so many that it’s clear they’re working in unison. Scientists have found that the more individual fireflies participate, the more in tune they get. "Globally, one million people travel to witness firefly-related phenomena every year"įor a while, the insects’ rhythm remains a bit discordant, like that of an orchestra warming up. But as their numbers grow to be thousands-each appearing to light the one next to it, like a candle being passed-the crowd stands. When the first synchronous fireflies appear, sporadically flashing, they don’t seem to be much different from common species that illuminate backyards. Firefly habitat is so specific, so mercurial, that no one, not even rangers, can predict the best seats, so people find a spot that feels right to them. Photo for The Washington Post by Travis Dove.Īlong the trail designated for firefly viewing, people have been setting up folding chairs. In fact, the reason that I had dipped down to the river was to get a brief respite from the crowd.Ī synchronous firefly in western North Carolina. The US National Park Service has a lottery for people to secure passes, but even so, the annual gathering isn’t a small one. The firefly event in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which straddles Tennessee and my home state of North Carolina, draws seekers from across the continent. The synchronous fireflies of Elkmont are some of the most famous in the world. Firefly tourismĪ Tufts University study of firefly tourism, released in 2021, found that, globally, one million people travel to witness firefly-related phenomena every year. To reach a trailhead in an area of the park known as Elkmont, we-along with hundreds of other visitors here for the fireflies’ light show, which generally occurs in a two-week period around early June-had to walk along an avenue of cabins, abandoned after the park was formed. And there’s a chimney nearby, but no house. The woman is sitting on a porch stoop, but there’s no porch. It does feel as if we’ve travelled through a portal to another realm.
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