Panama Canal Rainforest - Nature Was Never This Close
The Panama Canal rainforests are the most accessible pristine rainforests in the world. Just minutes from Panama City in the former American Canal Zone, now Soberania National Park, they are home to exotic nature and outstanding ecotourism attractions. A veritable treasure of nature, these 50,000 acres of pristine rainforest host 105 species of mammals, 525 species of birds and 124 species of reptiles and amphibians.
Recently, a well traveled travel writer told us that she had traveled to the deepest part of the Amazon, but not seen nearly as much nature in the Amazon as she saw in the Panama Canal Rainforest...just 30 minutes from the modern metropolis of Panama City.
A travel article in Los Angeles Times reports that the writer saw 5 species of monkeys in a trip to Monkey Island in Gatun Lake, part of the Panama Canal water complex-not unusual.
Where to Stay:
The Panama Canal Rainforest is adjacent to Panama City. You can comfortably stay in any Panama City hotel and make day trips to explore by yourself or with a tour operator.
Panama City Hotels
In the Panama Canal Rainforest itself you can stay at the 5 star resort Gamboa Rainforest Resort and the Melia Panama Canal Hotel and world famous ecolodge Canopy Tower. See our Panamainfo Listings.
Gamboa Rainforest Resort - a kind of ecotourism Disney World, a 5 star hotel in the rainforest with a wide variety of activitites from a rainforest aerial tram, nighttime crocodile safaris, river kayaking, rainforest hikes and lake fishing.
Canopy Tower - Called by Audubon Magazine one of the top 10 nature lodges in the world, Canopy Tower offers an extraordinary close-to-nature experience and world-class birding.
Restaurants - If you can't stay overnight, a perfect day trip from Panama City is to have lunch at Los Lagartos Restaurant alongside Chagres River at the Gamboa
Rainforest Resort. As you dine, you'll see huge ships floating by in the Panama Canal.If you ask the waiters, they'll throw bread in the river below and you'll be treated to a tropical wildlife food fight -crocodiles, fish, turtles and colorful water birds all vying for the bread pieces. We won't tell you who always wins the fight.
Birding - Two of the world's best birding locations: Pipeline Road near Panama City and Achiote Road near Colon.
Fishing - Gatun Lake created as part of the Panama Canal and once the world's largest man-made lake offers excellent lake fishing- it is normal to catch several dozen fish.
Kayaking - Kayak in the Panama Canal to the historic Camino de la Cruces, the original "path between the seas" first used by the Spanish conquistadores
Barro Colorado Island- A lush jungle island which is a world renowned living laboratory run by the Smithsonian Institute for Tropical Research in Gatun Lake, part of the Panama Canal waterway. A tour will include a boat ride in the Panama Canal and a rainforest hike with a naturalist. Make your reservations with a tour operator well in advance as tourists are limited to protect the islands' numerous scientific research projects.
Monkey Island Tour- Another island in the Panama Canal waterway- this one dedicated exclusively to monkey research. A tour with a tour operator includes a boat ride in the Panama Canal to the island where at least four types of monkeys are usually observed - this trip is a sure family hit.
Summit Golf Club- Just twenty minutes from downtown Panama City, Summit Golf Club offers extraordinary tropical scenery, a championship course designed by Jeffrey Myers with 18 holes, par 72, 6626 yds and sand-based Bermuda-Tidway grass. The course has the only computerized GPS system in Central America, 100 golf carts, outstanding practice facilities and a beautiful club house.
Summit Botanical Gardens and Zoo - Founded by the Americans in 1923, these gardens are home to over 15,000 tropical plants and a zoo of animals and birds native to the tropics. A main attraction and worth the visit by itself, is the Harpy Eagle compound where you can see a Harpy Eagle, the world's largest predator bird. This magnificent bird, which lives only in Panama and is close to extinction stands about three feet tall. Fortunately, a local branch of the Peregrine Foundation is breding the bird and hopes to save it.