Get in Touch with Nature at Oatland Island Wildlife Center

After traveling down a windy road, you’ll eventually be greeted by gates and ushered inside the grounds. 

The parking lot sits beside a sweeping marsh, making it easy to forget you’re less than five miles east of Historic Downtown Savannah. The welcome center is a stately building constructed in 1927, originally serving as a retirement home for railroad workers.

The site opened to the public in August 1974 as the Oatland Island Education Center, operating as part of the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System with a mission rooted in environmental education and connection to the natural world. In 2007, it became known as the Oatland Island Wildlife Center, reflecting its expanded focus and growing role in wildlife conservation and learning. With a commitment to being open nearly every day of the year (excluding a few holidays), Oatland Island welcomes visitors whenever their Savannah adventure calls.

Oatland Island Wildlife Center has something for every age, starting with Toddler Tuesday, where their youngest learners explore nature through fun, hands-on activities and safe animal encounters. As students grow, they can experience their Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE)-aligned field trips, serving more than 30,000 students each year and led by their team of six Naturalists and certified teachers. And the fun doesn’t end there, Oatland also offers week-long summer camps for students in rising Kindergarten through 5th grade. For teens, the adventure continues through the Oatland Wildlife Leader (OWL) Program, where high school students build leadership skills and give back through volunteer service and special projects. 

 At Oatland Island, the mission is to inspire curiosity and conservation while supporting meaningful science learning that connects to what students experience in the classroom and extends far beyond it through real-world exploration, discovery, and hands-on outdoor education. 

However, you don't have to be a student to enjoy Oatland! 

This family-friendly facility spans more than 100 acres of maritime forest, offering visitors a chance to explore nature at its most immersive. Oatland Island is home to more than 100 animals representing over 40 species, all thoughtfully cared for within naturalistic habitats. Along the two-mile trail loop, guests encounter animals native to Georgia, including gray wolves, cougars, bobcats, birds of prey and bison. The trail also features a stop at the Georgia Farm and the Heritage Homesite, home to the Delk cabin built in 1937—just a few highlights of the environments Oatland Island has created to educate and inspire visitors of all ages.

In addition to their education programs, summer camps and general daily operations, Oatland hosts a variety of events throughout the year. Halloween Hike, the center's most important fundraiser of the year, is perfect for even the youngest of trick-or-treaters. This event transforms the hiking trails around the facility into a Halloween family fun night. Another fall favorite is the Harvest Festival & Cane Grinding, where the agricultural traditions of the 1800s come to life today. Watch as cane is boiled into syrup and apple butter is churned. There are even hay rides! In the spring, there's the Fairy & Gnome Festival. Targeted for the littlest ones in the family, the event has scavenger hunts through their fairy-filled trails, games and a fairy-home-building contest.