Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge: Gators & Birds

On the low coastal prairie east of Houston, the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge protects tens of thousands of acres of marsh, prairie and open water where the land dissolves into Galveston Bay. Established in the 1960s, the refuge is famous for two things: its extraordinary birdlife — well over three hundred species recorded — and its alligators, which bask along the auto-tour roads in numbers that astonish first-time visitors. This half-day driving tour rolls the refuge's key stops: the visitor information point, the celebrated Shoveler Pond loop, and the windswept edge of East Bay. It's a place to move at the speed of a slow drive, windows down, binoculars ready, watching herons stalk the shallows and gators drift like logs. Bring water, sun protection and bug spray, and give the wildlife room — this is their marsh, and you're the visitor.