DESTINATIONS PANAMA | SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL 3
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ABOVE: Endemic monkeys, Coiba National Park, Panama PICTURE: Shutterstock/Kristina Vackova
Coiba National Park are the first of any New World primates to demonstrate this behaviour. Even more astonishingly, scientists have evidence of these monkeys using stones to break open the shells of snails, hermit crabs and coconuts – the only members of the capuchin monkey family to do so. As we watch silently, my guide, Angelo Solanilla, whispers: “The scientists think they’re following the same evolutionary path we did.” I feel goosebumps rising on my skin.
COIBA NATIONAL PARK Located 30 miles off Panama’s southern coast in the Gulf of Chiriqui, Coiba National Park is exquisitely beautiful in a way that leaves your mouth gasping guppy-like for descriptors. Idyllic is one. Paradisical another. Former penal colony is a rather unexpected third. You see, Coiba’s history is as
travelweekly.co.uk Coiba’s glorious
archipelago of 39 islands and hundreds of islets is set to become one of the country’s flagship national parks
dramatic as its resident primates, watery sunrises and tropical fish in vibrant, Skittles-bright hues. For close to a century, the namesake and largest island of the national park, Coiba, housed up to 3,000 of the country’s most dangerous prisoners and political opponents who were “disappeared” during Panama’s 21-year dictatorship. Because of the fear inspired by the island’s
residents, local people gave the entire area a wide berth and the islands survived with some 80% of their virgin forest intact. It was an act of serendipitous conservation and in 2005, the park was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site. As the Panama government invests $301 million dollars in a new sustainable tourism masterplan, Coiba’s glorious smattering of 39 tropical islands, hundreds of tiny, smudges-on-the-map islets and 216,500 hectares of water are set to become one of the country’s flagship national parks. For most of us, Panama is synonymous with two things: the Panama hat (a design actually hailing from Ecuador) and the Panama Canal. The latter, since the US officially handed back control in 1999, is now 100% Panamanian and one of the country’s biggest attractions. Watching container
E Get muddy and join members of the community as they build a traditional mud and straw house by taking part in a Junta de Embarra in Pedasí, a charming town on the southeastern tip of the Azuero Peninsula. It’s a day that brings together locals and visitors by reviving one of Panama’s messiest cultural traditions.
E Spend the day experiencing life on a traditional Panamanian farm at Finca Pamel in the Azuero Peninsula, where you’ll help make sancocho (Panamanian chicken soup cooked over a wood fire), be fitted for custom-made cutarras (leather sandals worn in the countryside) and enjoy a performance of folkloric dance by community members.
E Head out to Boquete to explore the new Coffee Circuit, which takes in fincas where Panama’s favourite caffeinated export is grown on the nutrient-rich slopes of Volcán Barú. Visitors can even sample the world’s most expensive, Geisha, which
retails for over $1,000 per half kilogramme.
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