MELISSA FARLOW_05842_110252-3.JPG
Canoers paddle through a path cut though Chesser Prairie that is thick with water lilies and small islands in the Okefenokee Swamp. The wilderness trip seen in this aerial photo is located in remote parts of the swamp and takes three days to complete, planned so visitors see no one else on the trails.
Established as a wilderness in 1937, the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge protects the waters and wildlife of the 402,000-acre swamp.
The Okefenokee Swamp wilderness is in southern Georgia, and commonly known as “Land of the Trembling Earth.” More accurately translated, “Okefenokee” means “waters shaking” in Hitchiti, an extinct dialect in the Muskogean language family spoken in the Southeast by indigenous people related to Creeks and Seminoles.
The name refers to the gas that forms as submerged vegetation decomposes and bubbles up from the bottom of the swamp. Plants begin growing and clump together to form spongy little islands.
- Copyright
- MELISSA FARLOW
- Image Size
- 4310x6567 / 27.4MB
- Keywords
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aerial, boating, boats, canoes, Chesser prairie, georgia (united states), green, national wildlife refuges (okefenokee swamp), north america, okefenokee national wildlife refuge, okefenokee swamp (georgia), prairie refuges and reserves, southern states, sports, suwannee canal recreation area, tourists and tourism, united states, wilderness.
- Contained in galleries
- Okefenokee USA_National Geographic magazine_4/1992
