City: Savannah, GA

Category: Parks & Recreation

Telephone: (912) 652-4415

Description: By traveling the Laurel Hill Wildlife Drive, you can see some of the refuge’s 29,174 acres of freshwater marshes and hardwood islands, which are known locally as “hammocks.” This 4-mile gravel road is open to hikers, bicyclists, and motorists, and it takes you along dikes built during the late 18th and early 19th centuries by rice planters. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the refuge, maintains 3,000 acres of freshwater pools created by the dikes, areas that serve as feeding grounds for wading birds and waterfowl. Unless posted as closed, all the dikes are open to foot travel, as is the Cistern Trail, a winding path that runs off the Wildlife Drive; however, if you’re planning on leaving the drive to hike or bike, call ahead to ascertain the condition of the dike system. The Wildlife Drive is open from sunrise to sunset throughout the year, except for two days during the fall, usually in October, when it’s closed to the general public to allow a deer hunt by people using wheelchairs; you should check to see if this event falls at a time when you intend to visit the refuge. The drive and the dikes are great places from which to observe wildlife, in particular birds and alligators. A marvelous time for bird-watching is late December and early January, when the refuge is visited by 13 different types of ducks in concentrations of up to 30,000 birds. The best times for viewing gators are in March, April, and October, when the big reptiles crawl onto the banks of the refuge’s canals to bask in the sun. Laurel Hill Wildlife Drive and about half of the refuge are in South Carolina but right across the Savannah River from Chatham County; the entrance to the drive is only a couple of miles from the West Chatham town of Port Wentworth on SC 170, which is SR 25 south of the river. The drive is not far from downtown Savannah. To get to it from downtown, about a 15-minute trip, take US 17 north across the river to its intersection with SC 170, then turn south on SC 170. You can fish from the banks of the Wildlife Drive and in the Kingfisher Pond year-round and in the remainder of the refuge’s freshwater pools from March 1 to November 30, but the angling at these spots isn’t anything to write home about, and you’ll need a South Carolina license. You’ll get better results fishing in the Savannah River along the refuge’s boundaries, and a Georgia license will suffice if you stay in the main channels. The refuge manages hunts for deer, feral hogs, squirrels, waterfowl, and turkeys during the fall and winter. Permits to hunt there are required and can be obtained by mailing requests or applications to Savannah Coastal Refuge Hunts, Parkway Business Center, 1000 Business Center Dr., Suite 10, Savannah, GA 31405.