The Okefenokee Swamp

The Okefenokee Swamp is a different world; a seemingly untouched, primitive landscape of serpents and dragons; a foreboding, dark land, yet exciting and evoking the urge to explore. I have explored this intriguing swamp habitat on many occasions; each time paddling a bit further, and each time investigating its details a bit more closely. My desire is to promote and preserve this majestic piece of Earth through my nature journals and photographs, and the travel blogs of other adventurers…  

The Okefenokee is the largest blackwater swamp in North America. The majority of the swamp lies within the state of Georgia, but straddles the border into Florida. It is protected by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and the Okefenokee Wilderness. Its Native American name means “The Land of Trembling Earth”.

Follow My Blog

Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.

Hi, I’m conservation photographer and nature writer William Wise. I am definitely not an Okefenokee expert, but I am certainly an Okefenokee enthusiast. I am provided the privilege of the Okefenokee lying within less than a half-day’s drive from my home. I’m currently an animal shelter manager and live in Athens, Georgia with my wife and two teenage daughters. I was saved under a campus ministry while studying wildlife biology at the University of Georgia. My love of the outdoors quickly turned into a love for the Creator and His works. William Wise Nature Notes is my wildlife and birding photo blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. I am also a guest author at Lee’s Birdwatching Adventures and The Creation Club.  I sell stock photography to support my creation ministry and pet adoption photography efforts. — “What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations.” Psalms 104, The Message.

Latest Posts…

• Okefenokee Snake Hunting CompetitionApril 15, 2021
  An excerpt from my Okefenokee Journal dated March 11, 2015: Wednesday, 11:50 AM Walking further down the swamp boardwalk, my eyes were constantly scanning left and right among the shallow waters and cypress knees. My daughterContinue reading “Okefenokee Snake Hunting Competition”
• Bradford Torrey’s “Water Turkey Contortionist”April 12, 2021
  An excerpt from naturalist Bradford Torrey’s 1895 book, A Florida Sketch-Book: “At another time, on the same stake, sat some dark, strange-looking object. The opera-glass showed it at once to be a large bird sitting withContinue reading “Bradford Torrey’s “Water Turkey Contortionist””
• Okefenokee Squirrels and HawksApril 9, 2021
  A passage from my March 5, 2017 Okefenokee journal: Sunday, 9:04 AM – ​Another bright, blue calm morning on Billy’s Lake as we slowly paddle westward for a day up the brown trail to The Sill. PassingContinue reading “Okefenokee Squirrels and Hawks”
• The NarrowsApril 6, 2021
  Between the open skies of Billy’s Lake and the prairie landscape of Mixon’s Hammock lies a twisting, constricted canoe trail called “The Narrows”. The sky overhead is darkened by Black Gum, Cypress, Bay, Red Maple andContinue reading “The Narrows”
• Okefenokee’s Prophecy of PreservationApril 3, 2021
  Thankfully, Hamp Mizell’s words in this passage from the 1926 book, History of the Okefenokee Swamp, were prophetic when he wrote of the restoration of the Okefenokee. The entire swamp was stripped of the timber inContinue reading “Okefenokee’s Prophecy of Preservation”