Panama

Encounters on Panama’s Gatun Lake

Article and photography by Steve Gillick

Fascination, adventure and interaction with nature can be found only forty-five minutes away from the soaring residential and office towers that populate the downtown area of Panama City, Panama. Gamboa is a small town with huge appeal for outdoor enthusiasts, photographers, birders and amateur primatologists (people who love to encounter monkeys!).

Some visitors spend a day or two walking Pipeline Road in Soberania National Park to find two-and three-toed sloths, Howler Monkeys, Anteaters, Whooping Motmots, Kill-billed Tucans and hundreds of other bird species.

Some travelers visit the Sloth Sanctuary, where rescued orphans under the age of two literally hang out during the day. Individuals such as Joy, Ralph, Chocolate and Sebastian spend the day cuddling, scratching, sleeping and observing the visitors who in turn are observing them.

And then there is the Gatun Lake Cruise that leaves from the marina close to the Gamboa Rainforest Resort. Gatun Lake was created to be a reservoir for the Panama Canal lock system. (Fifty-three million gallons of water are required for each of the 36 daily ship transits). Once completed in 1913, the flooded valley was gradually populated by birds, mammals and reptiles, making this a nature paradise.

Donning mandatory bright orange life-jackets, we sat cheering and waving in our 12 passenger motorboat as our driver sped past some of the huge cargo ships making their way along the Panama Canal to either the Pacific Ocean to the south or the Caribbean Sea to the north. But then we turned into a small channel where, minutes later, Fabio our guide, pointed out a crumpled, almost indistinguishable mass of hair lying on a tree branch. It was a two-toed sloth resting in the morning sunshine.

And only a short distance away we found ourselves face to face with a family of diminutive, White-faced Capuchin monkeys poking their heads through the oversized rainforest foliage to evaluate the situation. Some jumped onto the canopy of the boat, down the silver support poles and across the backs of our seats, apparently looking for food or anything interesting (cameras, hats, glasses etc.). As we had been briefed on monkey behaviour, the Capuchins found nothing and jumped back onto their island. Two separate groups of Mantled Howler Monkeys on other islands followed the same routine, but a shy troop of Geoffrey’s Tamarind Monkeys, distinguished by a triangle of white hair on their forehead, chose to simply watch us as we snapped away with cameras and iphones.

We also encountered crocodiles, Snail Kites, Magnificent Frigatebirds, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Wattled Jacanas and Blue Herons.

Gatun Lake is the perfect place to fascinate, unwind and interact with one of Panama’s pristine, natural environments.

www.ecocircuitos.com