Tour: Botana Bay Heritage Preserve (Wildlife Management Area) Scouting expedition with a spooky Caribbean flair

Edisto Island, a largely wooded marsh island that is criss-crossed by squiggly tidal creeks, is located on the South Carolina coast. The 1,860 hectare botany bay site is located on the island. Once home to the finest Sea Island cotton plant­ations, the area is now a natural and heritage conser­vation park. If you pay special attention, you may run into deer, snakes (some poisonous), alligators, lizards, herons, seagulls, sea turtles, oysters, blue crabs, ghost crabs and raccoons during your visit.

A path leads south from the car park near Pockoy Island to the Atlantic. From there, you will cross a section of flat marshland that is simply teeming with fiddler crabs and birds. The beach is located just 750 metres from there. What we see upon arrival simply blows us away. At this point, we also realise why the place is known as “Boneyard Beach”. The beach is literally blanketed by tree trunks bleached white by the sun. A few other orphan trees stand tall in the water as well. This unspoilt area is also the home to a bizarre and spooky form of beauty. We stroll along the white beach, between mussels and dead wood, while constantly gazing at a dense forest of maritime palm trees located directly beside the beach. You certainly cannot pass up an oppor­tunity to take a dip in the water here. Just be sure to watch out for driftwood and roots.

After returning from the beach, we decided to take a stroll through the plant­a­tion’s woods. You can set off on a 10-kilometre hike on well-main­tained trails that will lead you to the ruins of the plantation and its outer buildings. You can also take paths covered in pine needles that will lead you past ponds and centuries-old oak trees covered with tinsels of liana and Spanish moss. What a contrast to Boneyard Beach!