Best Swamp

The Kaziranga Wetlands in Assam, India, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site designated in 1985, hosting two-thirds of the world's greater one-horned rhinoceros population within a floodplain ecosystem shaped by annual Brahmaputra floods.

The Sundarbans, shared by Bangladesh and India, is the world's largest mangrove forest at roughly 10,000 sq km and a UNESCO World Heritage Site listed in 1987, sheltering the largest remaining population of Bengal tigers.

The Iberá Wetlands in northeastern Argentina cover roughly 1.3 million hectares, forming one of South America's largest freshwater systems and a key refuge for capybara, marsh deer, and reintroduced jaguars.

Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is a federally protected area established in 1937 in southeastern Georgia. Covering roughly 402,000 acres, it safeguards most of the Okefenokee Swamp, an extensive mosaic of peatlands, forested wetlands, lakes, and prairies. The refuge provides habitat for America...

Congaree National Park protects a floodplain forest along the Congaree and Wateree rivers in central South Carolina. Designated a national park in 2003, it contains one of the largest remaining areas of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest in the United States, including unusually tall trees of sev...

The Atchafalaya Basin is a vast river floodplain and wetland complex in south-central Louisiana, organized around the Atchafalaya River. Often described as the largest river swamp in the United States, it includes bottomland hardwood forests, cypress and tupelo swamps, bayous, lakes, and marshes. Th...

The Okefenokee Swamp is a large peat-filled wetland extending across southeastern Georgia and northern Florida. Its dark, tannin-stained waters flow through forested islands, cypress stands, open wet prairies, and winding channels, creating habitat for alligators, black bears, wading birds, and many...

Big Cypress Swamp is an extensive subtropical wetland in southern Florida, much of which is protected within Big Cypress National Preserve. The preserve was established in 1974 and covers roughly 729,000 acres of cypress strands, wet prairies, pinelands, hardwood hammocks, and estuarine areas. Its s...

The Cuiabá River floodplains form part of the northern Pantanal in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. Seasonal rainfall causes the river and connected channels to inundate broad areas of grassland, woodland, marsh, and shallow lakes, creating habitat for fish, waterbirds, capybaras, caimans, giant...

The Sudd is a vast wetland in South Sudan formed where the White Nile spreads across a shallow, nearly level basin. Its area changes greatly with seasonal rainfall and river flow, creating a shifting landscape of channels, lagoons, reed beds, papyrus, floating vegetation, and flooded grassland. The...

Tonle Sap in Cambodia is Southeast Asia's largest freshwater lake, which expands dramatically from about 2,500 to 16,000 sq km during the monsoon season and supports one of the world's most productive inland fisheries.

The Cuvette Centrale is a broad, low-lying basin of forests, rivers, swamps, and peatlands in the central Congo Basin, principally within the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo. Research has identified an exceptionally large tropical peatland complex beneath its swamp for...

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is a protected wetland managed by the National Audubon Society in southwestern Florida. It preserves an important old-growth bald cypress forest together with pine flatwoods, wet prairie, marsh, and pond habitats used by alligators, otters, wading birds, and numerous plant...

The Peace-Athabasca Delta is a large inland freshwater delta in northeastern Alberta, Canada, formed where the Peace and Athabasca rivers meet the western end of Lake Athabasca. Covering roughly 3,800 square kilometres, it lies partly within Wood Buffalo National Park and is recognized as a wetland...

Caddo Lake is a lake and wetland complex spanning the Texas and Louisiana border. It is characterized by bayous, shallow open water, extensive bald cypress stands, aquatic plants, and trees draped with Spanish moss, creating habitat for fish, waterfowl, reptiles, and mammals. Portions of the lake ar...

The Pripyat Marshes in Belarus and Ukraine form one of Europe's largest remaining primeval wetlands, covering millions of hectares along the Pripyat River and serving as a major breeding ground for migratory birds on the East Atlantic Flyway.

Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park protects a long, forested wetland in Collier County in southwestern Florida. Its strand swamp, sloughs, marl prairies, and upland habitats support a notably diverse assemblage of native orchids, bromeliads, royal palms, alligators, black bears, and Florida pant...

The Bangweulu Wetlands are a large system of swamps, seasonally flooded grasslands, lakes, and channels in northern Zambia. Water levels expand and contract with seasonal rainfall, supporting fishing, livestock grazing, birdlife, and wildlife adapted to broad floodplains. The area is particularly im...

Keoladeo National Park, formerly known as Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Rajasthan, India, designated in 1985, and hosts over 370 bird species including large numbers of wintering waterfowl from Central Asia.

The Vasyugan Swamp in western Siberia, Russia, is one of the world's largest swamps, covering approximately 53,000 sq km, storing an estimated 15 billion tonnes of peat carbon accumulated over roughly 10,000 years.

The Polesie wetlands occupy a broad lowland region across Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, and adjoining parts of Russia. Rivers, floodplains, peat bogs, marshes, wet meadows, and swamp forests form one of Europe's largest wetland landscapes, although drainage and agricultural conversion have altered subst...

Formed by the Ashepoo, Combahee, and Edisto rivers in South Carolina, this roughly 350,000-acre estuarine basin is one of the largest undeveloped coastal ecosystems remaining on the Atlantic seaboard.

Established on the Texas Gulf Coast in 1937, it is the primary wintering ground for the endangered whooping crane, whose wild population recovered from fewer than 20 individuals in the mid-20th century.

Established in southeastern Texas in 1974, this national preserve protects a region where eight distinct ecosystems converge, producing one of North America's highest concentrations of plant and animal diversity.

The Great Dismal Swamp is a large forested wetland spanning southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, centered on Lake Drummond. George Washington participated in surveying and commercial drainage efforts there during the colonial period. Its difficult terrain also sheltered communities...

The Swamp Darner (Epiaeschna heros) is among the largest dragonfly species native to eastern North America, with a wingspan that can exceed 110 millimeters. It belongs to the family Aeshnidae, a group of robust, fast-flying dragonflies. The species is associated with forested wetlands, swamps, and s...

Los Llanos is a vast tropical grassland plain extending across Venezuela and eastern Colombia, much of which becomes seasonally flooded during the rainy months. Rivers, temporary wetlands, gallery forests, and open savannas support capybaras, spectacled caimans, anacondas, river dolphins, fish, and...

The Likouala Swamps in the Republic of Congo form part of the Congo Basin's peatland system, covering millions of hectares of remote, largely unexplored swamp forest that harbors forest elephants and western lowland gorillas.

Ciénaga de Zapata is an extensive wetland on Cuba's Zapata Peninsula in Matanzas Province and is widely recognized as the largest wetland complex in the Caribbean. Its landscape includes mangroves, freshwater marshes, swamp forests, peatlands, coastal lagoons, and seasonally flooded grasslands withi...