14 days/13 nights
Departure Dates:
December 16-29, 2009
February 14-27, 2010
March 8-21, 2010
All included, expertedly guided, 400+ species, Panama Canal - Chiriqui Highlands - Darien National Park.
An in-depth exploration of avian diversity across the isthmus. You can see Resplendent Quetzals and Umbrella birds in the West as well as four types of Macaws and Harpy Eagles in the East. In the central part the rainforests of the Panama Canal watershed are within a 45-minute drive from Panama City and harbor more than 400 bird species. In total the country of Panama boasts an impressive list of over 960 species.
Day 1: Arrive Panama
On arrival to Tocumen International Airport, in Panama City, an Ancon Expeditions of Panama representative will greet you outside Customs. Transfer to the Gamboa Rainforest Resort near Soberania National Park. Night at Gamboa Rainforest Resort.
Day 2: Pipeline Road - Summit Ponds - Plantation Loop
Early morning breakfast and orientation with other trip participants and your Birds of Panama guide. This morning you drive to the nearby Pipeline Road within Soberania National Park. Soberania is home to some 525 species of birds. Before entering the road you will bird the scrub habitat near the ponds looking for Crimson-backed Tanager, Rufescent Tiger Heron, White-throated Crake as well as several Tyrannulets and Greenlets. Located within this protected area Pipeline Rd. is the site where Audubon Society held its world Christmas bird count record for 19 years straight, with 357 species of birds identified in a period of 24 hours.
As one of the most accessible rain forests in the world, Pipeline Road is a great place to look for birds like Slaty-tailed and Black-throated Trogons, Golden-collared Manakin, White-bellied Antbird, Semiplumbeous Hawk, Black-breasted Puffbird, Purple-throated Fruitcrow, Blue Cotinga, Pheasant Cuckoo and army antswarm followers. A picnic lunch will be served at Summit Ponds. There you will look for the Boat-billed Heron, Rosy Thrush-Tanager and other Pacific woodland species. At Plantation Loop you will walk along a low ridge where you will find some of the humid forest birds such as Royal Flycatcher, Golden-crowned Spadebill, Blue-crowned Manakin and others. Night at Gamboa Rainforest Resort. Includes: (B, L, D).
Day 3: Escobal / Achiote Road
An early morning drive will take you to the areas of Escobal and Achiote roads on the Caribbean side of Panama. These spots are probably some of the best places to search for diurnal raptors. They are also excellent places to look for specialties such as the Spot-crowned Barbet, Black Hawk-Eagle, Rufous-crested Coquette, Montezuma Oropendola, Brown-hooded Parrot, Black-bellied Wren, Pied Puffbird and rarities like Gray-cheeked Nunlet and White-headed Wren. Late afternoon birding around the hotel grounds back in Gamboa. Night at Gamboa Rainforest Resort. Includes: (B, L, D).
Day 4: Metropolitan Nature Park - Chiriqui Cloudforest
Today you will drive to Metropolitan Nature Park (the only protected rain forest within capital city limits in Latin America). With an impressive list of 260 species the possibilities are great. Specialties include Lance-tailed Manakin, Orange-billed Sparrow, Green Honeycreeper, Rufous and White Wren and many more. We will also look for the Red-napped Tamarin on the trail named after them.
You will take a mid-morning flight to David in the Chiriqui province. Chiriqui is known as “Panama’s breadbasket” having some of the most breathtaking highland scenery in Central America. Transfer by van to the western side of the Baru Volcano to the town of Volcan. Lunch will be at the hotel’s restaurant. In the afternoon you will proceed to a coffee farm which offers great birding such as Rufous-browed Peppershrike, White-winged Tanager, Fiery-billed Aracari in a transitional area between the highlands and lower foothills of the western mountain range. Night at Hotel Dos Rios. Includes: (B, L, D).
Day 5: La Amistad International Park & World Biosphere Reserve
Shared with neighboring Costa Rica and recognized in 1982 as a Biosphere Reserve and UNESCO World Heritage Site, La Amistad is located at a point on the Central American land bridge where flora and fauna from North and South America reach their maximum species mix, with great ranges in altitude, precipitation, soils and temperature. You will spend the morning hiking and exploring La Amistad in the area of El Retońo in search of Silvery-fronted Tapaculo, Andean Pygmy-Owl, Barred Becard and many other western highland species.
After lunch at a local restaurant you will drive to Baru Volcano National Park located along the Talamanca mountain range and also being the highest point of the country (3,475 meters above sea level). The Baru Volcano and La Amistad parks are part of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. Here you will search for Buffy Tuftedcheek, Resplendent Quetzal, Ochraceous Pewee, Silvery-throated Jay, different hummingbirds and other highland species.
Night at Hotel Dos Rios. Includes: (B, L, D).
Day 6: Tapir's Canyon - Querevalo Road - Boquete
This morning you will stop at Tapir’s Canyon to search for Lesser Elaenia, Bay-headed Tanager, Crested Oropendola, American Dipper, and a myriad other species. You will descend back to the lowlands and drive through some rice, corn and sugar cane fields where you will keep an eye out for Brown-throated Parakeets, Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture, Dickcissels, and other grassland birds. You will continue bird watching on the Eastern side of Baru Volcano on the way to Boquete, a countryside town surrounded by flower, fruit and vegetable farms, coffee plantations and also lush tropical cloud forests. The afternoon is spent birding around the hotel grounds.
Night at Finca Lerida Lodge. Includes: (B, L, D).
Day 7: Finca Lerida Cloud Forest
Today you will explore Finca Lerida, a privately owned preserve, just outside Baru Volcano National Park. At an elevation of 2,286 meters above sea level, you have an opportunity to see the elusive Resplendent Quetzal, Three-wattled Bellbird, Black-faced Solitaire, Volcano Hummingbird, Long-tailed Silky-flycatcher and Prong-billed Barbet in their cool habitat of orchids, bromeliads and wild avocados. After a picnic in the cloud forest you continue birding before returning to the hotel to get ready for our transfer to David for our flight back to Panama City. Night at Holiday Inn-Panama Canal. Includes: (B, L, D.
Day 8: Darien National Park – Santa Cruz De Cana
This morning you will proceed to Albrook domestic airport where you are going to board a chartered plane headed for Santa Cruz de Cana, in Darien National Park and World Biosphere Reserve, where Ancon Expeditions manages a field station. As you fly in you can admire the vast forest cover of Panama’s largest park (1.3 million acres). Cana is located at the foothills of Pirre Mountain, located in the most remote area of Panama. Very few places in the world rival Cana in birding potential. From the plane be on the lookout for King Vultures and Macaws.
After getting settled at the Cana Field Station you will explore the Boca de Cupe Trail and surrounding area. Specialties here include Blue and Gold, Red and Green, Great Green and Chestnut-fronted Macaws, Black tipped Cotinga, Swallow Tanager, Red-throated Caracara, Streaked Antwren, Dusky-backed Jacamar, Ornate Hawk-Eagle and others. Night at Cana Field Station. Includes: (B, L, D).
Day 9: Cana Field Station
Today you will explore the Mine and Seteganti trails, where rusting machinery is being overtaken by the jungle after the British Gold Mine ventures collapsed at the beginning of the last century. Specialties of this area include Great Curassow, Crested Guan, Dusky-faced Tanager, Olivaceous Piculet. Along the Seteganti Trail, with open scrub areas and mature forests, look out for various woodpeckers such as Crimson-bellied and Red-rumped, Red-billed Scythebill, Brown Violetear. Night at Cana Field Sttation. Includes: (B, L, D).
Day 10: Pirre Cloud Forest Camp
Early this morning you will begin a slow-paced 5-hour hike to the Pirre Cloud Forest. At 1,200 meters above sea level, the Pirre Cloud Forest is a good place to look for specialties such as Beautiful Treerunner, Tooth-billed Hummingbird, Slaty Antwren, Tody Motmot, Yellow-eared Toucanet, Rufous-breasted Ant thrush, Immaculate Antbird, Rufous-vented Ground Cuckoo, Pirre Warbler, Pirre Hummingbird, Pirre Bush Tanager, Greenish Puffleg, Orange-bellied Euphonia. Night at Pirre Camp (Screened tents with sleeping mats). Includes: (B, L, D).
Day 11: Pirre Cloud Forest Camp
This morning we hike to the top of Pirre Mountain in search of the Golden-headed Quetzal, Gray and gold Tanager, Sharpbill, Chlorophonia and several Tanagers among other Eastern Panama highland species. You will continue birding around the Pirre Tent Camp this afternoon. Night at Pirre Camp (Screened tents with sleeping mats). Includes: (B, L, D).
Day 12: Cana Field Station
This morning you will start the descent back to the Cana Field Station. The afternoon is spent birding around the main camp. Possibilities include Gray-cheeked Nunlet, Spotted Barbtail, Barred Puffbird, Yellow-green Tyrannulet, Jet Antibird, Black-crowned, Fulvous-bellied, Ochre-breasted and Scaled Antpittas, White-fronted Nunbird, Cinereous Becard, Golden-headed Manakin. Night at Cana Field Station. Includes: (B, L, D).
Day 13: Darien – Panama City – Old Panama Mudflats – Juan Diaz Mangroves
This morning you will fly back to Panama City on a chartered plane. Upon arrival, tide level permitting, you will visit the Old Panama Mudflats for a chance to see Collared Plovers, Short-billed Dowitchers, Marbled Godwit, Whimbrel and others. Lunch will be at a local restaurant. You will continue birding at the Juan Diaz mangroves looking for Straight-billed Woodcreeper, Ruddy-breasted Seedeater, Northern Scrub-Flycatcher, Mangrove Black-Hawk, Mangrove Warbler, Sapphire-throated and Scaly-breasted Hummingbirds, Rufous-browed Peppershrike among others. You will also stop at Costa del Este in search of Black-necked Stilt, Least Sandpiper, Cocoi Heron, Yellowlegs and Night-Herons. A farewell dinner will take place at a Panamanian restaurant tonight. Night at HolidayY Inn - Panama Canal. Includes: (B, L, D).
Day 14: Depart Panama
Today you will be picked up at the lobby of your hotel 2.5 hours prior to our scheduled departure flight and transferred to Tocumen International Airport. Fly home. Includes: (B).
Trip Classification: Moderate/long hiking 3-5 hours per day over variable terrain, slippery, muddy. Accommodations vary from hotel, comfortable lodges, field stations and tent camps.
Note: Weight restrictions apply to luggage in both commercial and chartered flights within Panama. A maximum of 25 lbs. of checked luggage per person is allowed. Arrangements can be made with Ancon Expeditions to store luggage that will not be needed on a particular leg of the trip. Excess baggage charges assessed by commercial carriers are the responsibility of the passenger.
Recommended Equipment Checklist: Binoculars (preferably 7x35 or larger), Birds of Panama book, camera with extra batteries & film, flashlight with extra bulb & batteries, bathing suit, insect repellent, sunscreen, hat, day pack, water bottle, lightweight/quick dry cotton clothes, windbreaker, hiking boots, sandals, sneakers, rain gear, money in small denominations, toiletries & personal medications. The Naturalist Guide carries a spotting scope.
Notes:
Airfare is not included in the tour price.
Price Includes:
- Lodging
- All land, air and water transportation within Panama
- All airport/hotel transfers on scheduled arrival and departure dates
- Meals as specified in the itinerary (B - breakfast; L - lunch; D - dinner)
- Entrance fees
- Guides’ services and services of an in-bound land operator for airline re-confirmations and tour operations.
Price Excludes:
- International airfare
- Tourist card ($5 per person)
- Meals not specified in the itinerary
- Alcoholic beverages
- Personal equipment
- Extras in hotels (laundry, telephone calls, room service, etc.) or gratuities
- Domestic airfare included.
Also see tour packages in:
Central America and Caribbean
Panama
Nature & Wildlife
Birdwatching
Ecotourism
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