Okefenokee Swamp Park Revisited

About a year ago, I visited the Okefenokee Swamp Park in Waycross, Georgia, and I didn’t think very much of it, probably because all the boat tours were sold out. In a first for this blog, they invited me to come back and take a boat tour on them to see if that changed my mind!

The short answer? It did. It absolutely did. For one, they’ve done a lot of work cleaning up the park, and it overall looks so much better. No more overgrown “swamp aesthetic.” Secondly, taking the boat tour into the swamp made me absolutely fall in love with the swamp itself. It’s so quiet and peaceful in there! When I feel tired out by travel and life, the swamp is a haven of calm.

Okefenokee Swamp Park Boat Tour

I will start by saying my boat tour wasn’t the typical tour you’d get off the street. First, we managed to book my tour on a day when the park was closed, so I had the tour, and the entire park, to myself. And second, we were able to go a little deeper into the swamp than the average tour.

And oh my gosh, I loved it so much! The boat navigates narrow channels like a secret path through the brush. And the reflections in the water make you feel like you are floating in the sky!

Arguably, it’s not the most conventionally beautiful place you’ve ever seen. Fires devastate the swamp every few decades and then, and the current state of the swamp consists of more bushes than the giant cypress trees that you might expect. But my guide, Clint, educated me about the swamp, the different kinds of trees, birds, and plants and pointed out mounded alligator nests along the way. We even spotted a few alligators! And he told me stories of the swamp that he’s known since he was leading tours as a teenager.

After we had motored and poled into the swamp for about an hour, Clint pulled out a map and showed me where we were. On this huge, two-sided map (which you can buy in the gift shop), we had only gone maybe a thumbnail’s breadth into it! That brought home how HUGE the swamp is! The map also shows boating & canoe trails through the swamp, and there are camping platforms inside the national wildlife refuge. I think I was told it takes about three days by canoe to cross the swamp completely.

The regular tour takes about 45 minutes and departs every hour, on the hour. I highly recommend it, just make sure to book ahead online.)

The Rest of Okefenokee Swamp Park

Back in the park, I walked around and noticed how cleaned up everything seemed to be, compared to my first visit. I swear there is new, bright signage throughout the park and everything looks like it has a fresh coat of paint. (Though I didn’t take enough pictures last time to prove it.)

It’s still pretty touristy, with the little train and several museum-style outbuildings surrounding a central snack shop. But overall, the tide seems to have turned towards ecological tourism and less towards ’60s-era swamp movies and comic strips. The park has come under new management since my last visit, and you can tell the positive effects. (I met the new manager, Levi. He’s super nice!) Even the website has been totally refreshed.

I think this park could focus more on its own history because I heard some interesting information from Clint during our tour. It’s the oldest entrance to the Okefenokee Swamp, operating since 1946. It also used to be the headquarters of the National Wildlife Refuge until it was moved down to Folkston. And when the Folkston entrance stopped providing their own boat tours, the guides at Okefenokee Swamp Park took over operations down there as well. Since Okefenokee Swamp Park is the OG entrance to the swamp, they could lean on their deep history for a bit of venerability instead of the more tourist-trappy stuff.

Gift Shop & Snack Shack

Let’s take a walk around the park for an updated look. The entrance & exit to Okefenokee Swamp Park is through a large gift shop, featuring the skeleton of the park’s former biggest gator, Oscar. There are souvenirs, toys, snacks, and drinks here, but head to the snack counter in the middle of the park for actual food.

You can get hot sandwiches at the Snack Shack, including hot dogs and hamburgers and even chicken fingers or a plant-based burger. There’s plenty of seating outdoors under the spreading trees. Bathrooms are located in the gift shop and behind the Snack Shack.

Ambassador Animals

Moving clockwise through the rest of the park, there’s an “ambassador animals” section containing several large alligators, in case you don’t get to see any on your boat trip. There are a few pens, which you can view from a boardwalk above. One male is pretty big! He’s kept separate from the females, and I think one other gator is kept separately for being too feisty.

Another small pool holds turtles, though Clint told me it used to feature otters in times past. (Apparently, some wild otters came by and convinced the captive ones they were better off in the swamp.)

Nature Center

To the left of the Snack Shack is a Nature Center featuring an indoor boardwalk with smaller species, like snakes and baby gators. One room is a view into a black bear enclosure, though I never saw any. A video shows a bear if you don’t spot one live.

In the middle is a small theater where they do the “Eye on Nature” program. I didn’t get to experience the show again, but it’s a low-key talk on snakes and alligators from the swamp.

On the other side of the theater is an exhibit on Pogo, the comic strip set in the Okefenokee Swamp, which ran 1948-1975. A mock-up of the artist Walt Kelly’s studio stands behind glass.

Lagoon Amphitheater

A large stage has a waterway that separates the stage from the audience. It looks nice, but I don’t think they currently hold any shows there. Levi, the manager, told me they are still repairing the roof before using it.

Nearby is a Food Pavilion, a screened-in picnic area I assume is used for larger group events.

Exhibit Building

In another museum-style building are more displays about the swamp, how it’s formed, and how it functions in the ecosystem. Inside, there’s a cross-section of a very large cypress tree, before any fire or logging took its toll on the swamp. I also took honest delight in a push-button display with a cross-section of the swamp, showing the “land of the trembling earth” floating over miniature fish and other vegetation.

World Honey Market Museum

A prettily painted building near a boardwalk features the history of beekeeping by swamp-dwelling families. A giant alligator statue of one of the swamp’s former residents (“Old Roy”) is in the entrance. A final room has a counter where I assume you can sometimes purchase honey for sale.

Boardwalk, Low Walk, and Observation Tower

Behind the boat dock are boardwalk paths out to a “low walk,” a boardwalk set right at the water level. This path leads to a 90-foot observation tower, the highest anywhere in the swamp. I LOVED this area of the park best during my last visit – see that post for more details and pictures.

Unfortunately, the metal tower needs some structural repairs and is closed for now. Passing it on the boat tour, we could see several vultures had taken it over!

Boat Dock & Train

Rounding the clock back towards the entrance are the park’s two biggest attractions, the boat dock for the tours and a train platform. I got a chance to re-ride the train during their evening Christmas lights display, but that didn’t give me another look at the pioneer village I had panned before. I can only hope the improvements in the rest of the park have extended there.

The boat tour, however, is a must. And while they’ve spruced up the rest of the park, it’s only a complement to seeing the swamp in person on a tour. Do I recommend this boat tour over the two others available? I think I’ll write more about this later, but I recommend taking a tour of all three! The Okefenokee Swamp is so large and so varied that at each of the three entrances – the Okefenokee Swamp Park in Waycross, the National Wildlife Refuge in Folkston, and the state park in Fargo – the swamp looks very different in each area. Here, the lanes through the swamp are natural and narrow, winding through the swamp. It’s a very different experience than the other two locations.

And for that alone (plus the good people that work there), I recommend a visit to Okefenokee Swamp Park. Make sure you reserve your spot ahead of time, especially on weekends, because the boat tour is really what makes a visit here worth your time and money.

Admission

To visit Okefenokee Swamp Park costs $30 for adults age 12 and up, including the boat tour. For kids 4-11, $25 and free for infants 3 and under. If you’re a local, it’s only $20. The 45-minute boat tours depart every hour. Hours vary by day and by season, check the website for the current schedule, and book your boat tour in advance.

To enter the park without a boat tour, you can pay $20 for adults or $19 for kids 4-11, seniors 62+, those with active military status, and AAA members. For locals, it’s $15.

Technically, there’s a $5 charge just to enter the national wildlife refuge, but that cost is included in all the prices above.