Bad Rap Hides Riches of Real
Darien Gap
By Matthew D. Firestone, LONELY
PLANET
Edging along the
Panamanian-Colombian border, the
Darien Gap is one of the wildest
frontiers in the Americas.
It's home to Panama's most
spectacular national park, the
UNESCO World Heritage site of
Parque Nacional Darien. The
Darien is where the primeval
meets the present -- where the
scenery appears much as it did a
million years ago. Even today,
local Embera populations
maintain many of their
traditional practices and remain
the guardians of generations-old
knowledge of the rain forest.
Although Parque Nacional
Corcovado in neighboring Costa
Rica sees tens of thousands of
tourists each year, a paltry few
hundred visit Parque Nacional
Darien. Unfortunately, a string
of bad press, ill-informed U.S.
travel warnings and grave
misconceptions about safety in
the region have squashed the
tourism potential of the Darien.
Although the myths would have
you believe that the Darien is a
no-go zone of Colombian
guerillas and narcotraffickers,
the reality proves contrary and
eye-opening, to say the least.
Through the efforts of Ancon
Expeditions, the for-profit arm
of the Panamanian conservation
organization Ancon, travelers
can experience rich diversity
deep within the Darien Gap.
For starters, the park and
particularly its historic
gold-mining settlement of Cana
are regarded among the top
birding destinations in the
world. Nestled in foothills on
the eastern slope of Pirre
Ridge, the Cana Valley is the
most isolated place in the
Republic of Panama. It is very
much the heart of the national
park.
Cana boasts four species of
macaws, several varieties of
parrots and other avian rarities
including jacamars, motmots and
trogons. From the floor of the
valley, you'll also spot several
species of primates in the
surrounding canopy, including
howler monkeys, spider monkeys
and tamarinds.
A five-day, four-night package
that includes private charter
flights between Panama City and
Cana, an English-speaking guide,
all meals and accommodations
costs $1,400 per person. The
trip leaves on fixed departure
dates in the high season
(December to April) with a
minimum of four people.
Expedition guests stay in a
rustic wooden structure that was
built by gold workers in the
1970s and are led on a variety
of nature walks in the
surrounding rain forests and
mountains.
Another popular destination in
the Darien is Reserva Natural
Punta Patino, which is located
along the Pacific Coast and is
home to Ancon's private
65,000-acre wildlife reserve.
Although Punta Patino protects a
species-rich primary forest, a
major drawing card of the
reserve is that it provides easy
access via the Mogue River to
the Embera village Mogue.
Traveling upriver is a
heart-of-darkness experience
that might not even be possible
anywhere in the tropics 50 years
from now. Even if you venture
deep into the Amazon, you'd be
hard-pressed to find such
wilderness these days.
The joy of visiting Mogue is
that it is very much an
authentic Embera village, as
opposed to a human zoo. Because
mass-market tourism in the
Darien is wholly absent, the
Embera continue to rely on
ancestral means of survival, and
village life continues unabated
whether tourists are there or
not.
However, guests to Mogue are
treated to an open and honest
look at traditional Embera
lifestyles, traditions, dance
and crafts. If you speak a
little Spanish, you'll revel in
the opportunity to talk with
some of the last remaining
inhabitants of the neotropical
rain forest.
With a little luck, you'll also
be guided to the nearby harpy
eagle nest, which is home to
Panama's national bird and one
of the largest raptors in the
world.
A four-day, three-night package
that includes private charter
flights between Panama City and
Punta Patino, an
English-speaking guide, all
meals and accommodations costs
$695 per person. The trip is
available on request and has a
minimum of four people.
The Darien also offers
spectacular opportunities for
rugged exploration by trail and
by river, though it's best
approached by travelers with
youthful hearts, intrepid
spirits and a yearning for
something truly wild. Roughly
twice a year, Ancon Expeditions
offers its highly recommended
Darien Explorer Trek, a two-week
overland trip between Punta
Patino and Cana. The cost is
$2,450 per person, and the trip
leaves on fixed departure dates
with a minimum of four people.
Matthew D. Firestone authored
Lonely Planet's new Panama guide
and is currently co-writing
"Costa Rica." |
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