Canal Zone Highlights & Chiriqui Higlands Tour
Jan. 31- Feb. 9, 2012 • $3,195 per person double occupancy plus airfare
Optional Canal Partial Transit Extension,
Feb. 9-10, 2012 • $355 per person double occupancy
The tour is a unique opportunity to visit some of the most wildlife rich areas of one of the most wildlife rich countries in the world. Leading this trip is Hernán Araúz, a pioneer of ecotourism in Panama, and a man who knows his country’s birds and culture like no one else.
The tour will focus on two regions, the lowland rainforests and other habitats of the Canal Zone, and the mile-high cloudforests and national parks of the Chiriqui Highlands, also known as the Western Highlands.
Our first day in the field will be spent in Soberanía National Park, birding on and near Pipeline Road, keeping an eye out for such specialties as Purple Fruitcrow, Slaty Trogon, Ocellated Antbird, Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo, Great Jacamar, and Lance-tailed Manakin. We will also keep our eyes high in the canopy to watch for the movements of families of Mantled Howler Monkeys.
Our group will then fly from Panama City to David in the Chiriqui, where we will stay for the next five nights, birding in the surprisingly temperate region surrounding the inactive Baru Volcano. Our first target bird will be the Resplendent Quetzal, which is seen on most of these trips, but we will also seek out Red-headed Barbet, Orange-billed Nightingale Thrush, and Flame-throated Warbler.
Our first two nights will be spent at Hotel Bambito, very close to La Amistad International Park and Los Quetzales Trail. The next three nights will be spent at Finca Lerida, an idyllic working coffee plantation and nature lodge. We will bird both on property and in the adjacent Baru Volcano National Park.
Upon returning to the Canal Zone we will spend two nights at the plush Gamboa Rainforest Resort, making further trips to Soberanía National Park and Pipeline Road, with stops at such sites as Plantation Trail, Summit Ponds, and Old Gamboa Road, and also includes a jungle boat expedition on Gatun Lake, which is contiguous to the canal.
Canal Partial Transit Extension.
Passengers stay in Panama for a day to participate in a ferry transit of the canal, beginning in Gamboa, passing through the Miraflores Locks, under the Bridge of the Americas, and disembarking at the Port of Balboa. Lunch and lodging included.
Tour leader Hernan Arauz
Hernan is one of Panama’s pre-eminent guides. Following a brief career in the diplomatic corps, his early expeditions into Panama’s wildernesses marked him as an extraordinary leader and expert naturalist. Hernán has seen more than 800 of the 960 species ever reported in Panama, and is legendary for his ability to find, identify and call in the rare and hard to find birds that birders come to Panama to see. More than that, he has a deep understanding of his nation’s cultural history, and an infectious sense of fun that leads heads of state, royalty, TV stars, and birders in the know to ask for him by name.
Please Note:
- All prices are per person based on a minimum of 2 paying participants in double occupancy.
- Single supplement price available on request.
- They include all accommodations, taxes, most meals as described in detailed itinerary, air and ground transportation, and escorted tours with English-speaking naturalist guides as indicated in the itinerary. Airfare from the U.S. is not included.
All Caligo Ventures Tours and other programs are subject to our Standard Terms and Conditions. Please review them prior to any purchase.
