Punta Patiño Nature Reserve, Darien

I was able to spend 4 days in Punta Patiño, a private nature reserve created by ANCON (The National Association for the COnservation of Nature--en español). This 30,289 hectare (74,814) acre reserve holds a variety of habitats from the coastal mangroves (3384 hectares or 8359 acres), to dry-scrub habitats to the rainforests dominated by the gigantic Cuipo trees. Currently, Ancon Expeditions of Panama operates a 10 cabin lodge within the reserve and this makes for the only lodging available within the reserve. Wildlife, culture, sunsets, cold beers and personalized service were the highlights of the trip.

We departed on Friday via Air Panama from Albrook Airport. The Darien is sort of the degraded step-sister of Panama's provinces--the Cinderella of Panama. Though it is the largest province in size, it is also the smallest in population. When you fly to the Darien, you never quite know what time you'll leave and for that matter, what time you'll return (we will get into that subject later). Anyhow, we were lucky and departed from Albrook only 45 minutes late.

The flight from Panama City to La Palma lasts only 45 minutes, but Panama City's skyline of glass and cement is quickly replaced by a Cuipo skyline. This city of a million plus is only a minuscule fraction of this country--a false sense of what Panama is if you ask me. Patches of forests, clearings for cattle and large tracks of mangroves are in-flight entertainment aboard the 18 passenger Twin Otter. It is pretty easy to follow your flight-route if you have a map of the country handy. The island of Chepillo, the town of Chiman and the mouth of the Tuira River, so large it is simply unmistakable. Finally below us is our destination of La Palma, only that we fly right over it and continue to El Real. You see, this 18 passenger flights services La Palma, El Real, Sambu, Garachine and whatever other town in the Darien that has an airstrip. In our case, we do reach La Palma after El Real and leave the milk run for the rest of the unfortunate passengers.

Your mode of transportation from La Palma to the lodge is a majestic dug-out canoe named Negumbu Waibua or Harpy Eagle in the Embera tongue. It takes about 1-1 1/2 hours to reach Patiño, depending on the currents, tides and amount of Bottlenose Dolphins spotted at the mouth of the Tuira. The landing at the final destination is theoretically a wet-landing, though it seems the staff is not satisfied if they do not make every effort possible to keep your ten toes from getting wet at the beach. It is then a short 10 minute walk uphill under coconut palms, mango trees and open skies (yikes-it's hot here in the middle of the day) until we reach the lodge. What a view! This is what makes Panama different. Here we sit overlooking the Pacific Ocean, thousands of acres of forest and just 6 people--3 of us and 3 staff. No, I mean just the 6 of us because it is not like other places where you have a lodge around the point and then another lodge around the point and so on until you have dozens of lodges in "one of the most remote places on earth." Here there is only one lodge--Punta Patiño.

So, what do we do now? This afternoon, we take a walk through some of the scrub forest near the lodge and as the days comes to an end, the temperature drops from hot to not too hot, but hot. OK, maybe I am exaggerating a bit, for this is not Dubai in July. I suppose it is in the mid 80's, with the same digits in the percentage of humidity. A couple of hours with some interesting birds, but the highlight was a troop of Geoffroy' Tamarins (Saguinus Geoffroyi) settling for the night. These tiny, gremlin-faced creatures (mohawk and all) are about the size of a grey squirrel and are the only marmosets found north of South America. Good job. Now is back to the lodge for a shower and a cold beer.

The key to successful wildlife viewing in places like Patiño is an early start. Make sure you are out in the field at sunrise or shortly after and then return to the lodge mid-day when the temperature rises and the animals can't be bother to entertain anyone! We followed this formula and over the next couple of days, we saw countless Red-lored Amazons flying above the lodge, Black-tailed Trogons, Lance-tailed and Golden-collared Manakins, Crimson-crested Woodpeckers, Blue-crowned Motmots, Basilisk lizards, Green Iguanas, White-nosed Coatis among others. The biggest surprise for me were two Yellow-billed Cuckoos that were found on the trail to the Patiño Estuary.

Besides the natural attractions of the lodge area, there is another reason to visit Patiño and that is the native Embera community of Mogue. Access to this village is tide-dependent, as the rivers of the Pacific coast of Panama ebb and flow with the daily tides--not quite the Bay of Fundy, but sometimes reaching 18 feet! The mangrove labyrinth leads way to the cultivated fields of plantain and as I catch a glimpse of that odd S-shaped trunk of the coconut palm, I know we have reached the village.

The Embera are some of the friendliest and most photogenic people you will find in Panama. This tiny village of 250-300 people is most welcoming of the few travelers that visit them a year. Every time I visit this village, I cannot help to think of how different the life of this tribe would have been if Gaugin would not have gotten sick working for the French during their canal epoch. Perhaps the world over would have traveled to Panama to visit the women that Gaugin painted.

We spend a couple of hours with our hosts, walking the village, chatting, singing and dancing. There was the opportunity to buy woven baskets and plates and ivory nut and wood carvings. Though they were able to sell their crafts, I think their highlight was receiving the photos sent to them by previous travelers to the village. They are so photogenic and are open to photography, but they rarely see the pictures taken of them (showing them the picture on the screen of your digital camera does not count!) I give travelers my address and many send me their pictures, which I then deliver to the village--smashing hit!

Personally, the only downfall of our experience in the Darien was the flight delay on Monday. We were supposed to have departed La Palma at 10.30 in the morning. Just to reconfirm, we called at 7.30 am and once again, 10.30 am was the answer. However, upon arrival to La Palma, I received a call from my office saying that the airline had changed the time to 1pm, which soon became 2 pm and finally at 3pm, the plane arrived. Luckily, I ran into Harlim, an old friend from La Palma now running for political office. He's a good guy and of course, we decied to have a beer at 10.30 am--about the most productive thing to do in La Palma that time of the day!

He told me of a Englishman who married a local woman and their plans to build a lodge in a nearby town called Paritilla. We proceeded to take a local bus and drive right into his house. He is building a very attractive house/lodge, which will work as a great base for community tourism in the Darien. The couple were great hosts and have visionary plans that are much needed in the Darien. The delay turned out to be a plus to our weekend in the Darien, However, it is shameful that the Darien continues to be the forgotten province, for it seems that 9 out of 10 times the plane does not arrive on-time. I am sure that the airlines use the Darien plane to cover other routes, mechanical problems or last-minute charters, knowing that these humble people will not complain or take action.