Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia

Visited Jan. 23, 2021

By Janell

On our drive from Jekyll Island, GA to St. Augustine, FL, we decided to squeeze in a swamp tour. Normally, travel days are just that, and there are no extra activities. Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Folkston, GA is the largest swamp in North America, covering roughly 700 square miles. Visiting it added an hour to our drive that day (plus the time for the tour), but it was so worth it!

Our guide, Jenny, a Naturalist

 

 

The water was so smooth and glassy!

 

For weeks now that we’ve been in the south, we’ve seen signs warning of alligators “No swimming - Alligators” or “Swim at Own Risk” (Really??!!). But we had not seen one gator! Mind you, it was a thrill I was looking forward to with a great amount of apprehension.

The reason we hadn’t seen any up to this point had to do with the weather. We had learned that gators don’t come out much if the weather’s not warm enough. This led us to wonder, where do they go? So, I consulted Google. When the temperature drops lower than 40 degrees, alligators go into a hibernation-like state called brumation. Their metabolisms slow down dramatically and they become lethargic. They stick their snouts through the surface, which allows them to breathe above the ice.

While the daytime temps we had been seeing weren’t that cold, it hadn’t exactly been sunbathing weather either. This particular day though, was probably in the mid-60’s, with sunshine. We had hopes for a gator sighting or two!

Our guide, Jenny, knew where a mother gator liked to hang out most days, and she steered the boat in that direction. Sure enough, there was a big gator snout sticking up just above the water. It was perfectly still though, and I did have to wonder if this was a real alligator or just some plastic prop. At another grassy site, Jenny showed us an alligator that, although we saw more of the body, it was again perfectly still. Another prop?

I think my skepticism comes from my dad. I remember being on a bus tour in Kauai when I was nine. A wild boar ran across the road in front of our bus. As the tour guide was excitedly pointing it out to us, I remember my dad’s skeptical comment to Mom and me, “there’s probably a guy out there who just let it go.” So, there you go!

Anyway, all that to say, these gators were the real deal! Not long after those two “still-life” gators, I spotted a gator head swimming through the water nearby! And then things got even more exciting after that, as you can see!

 

Does this guy give you goosebumps?!

Jenny pointed out this red-shouldered hawk, as well as lots of other wildlife

 

Turtles also like to sunbathe

We were in a boat just like this one

 

 

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