Take a Walk on the Wild Side

If a Texas-size photo safari is on your agenda, you’ve come to the right place. Southeast Texas is teeming with wildlife. So lace up your hiking boots and bring along your camera and binoculars. And don’t be surprised if while you’re spying on our wildlife, they spy back at you.

Big Thicket National Preserve 

The Big Thicket National Preserve spans nine different ecosystems, including hardwood forest, coastal plain, swamp, desert and prairie. In 1981, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) added the preserve to its international network of biosphere reserves. Visitors can enjoy hiking its 40 miles of trails, as well as back-country camping, canoeing and fishing on the Neches River or Village Creek.

Gator Country Adventure Park

Gator Country’s newest resident, Big Tex, weighs around 900 pounds and is more than 13.5 feet long. The largest alligator in captivity in Texas, he shares his address with more than 400 alligators, crocodiles, Caiman lizards and snakes.

JD Murphree Wildlife Management Area

Located along the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail, JD Murphree Wildlife Management Area is a prime locale for spotting brown pelicans, sea turtles, river otters, swamp rabbits and alligators.

McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge

Visitors can go crabbing and fishing at this 58,000-plus-acre refuge, which has the largest remaining freshwater marsh on the Texas coast and is home to the greatest concentration of American alligators in the state of Texas