DESTINATIONS SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL| PANAMA
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Shoal of fish, Coiba National Park; fruit snack; diving in Panama; culinary demonstration PICTURES: Atta/Daniel Santos; Shutterstock/Kristina Vackova
ships longer than two football fields being captained slickly and seemingly effortlessly through the locks is unexpectedly fascinating, and hundreds of thousands of cruise ship passengers experience this thrill each year. But you’d be forgiven for being less than familiar with the rest of Panama.
MARINE PROTECTION This looks destined to change. Coiba National Park hit the global radar last November when Panama joined forces with Colombia, Costa Rica and Ecuador in signing a declaration at Cop26 to enhance inter-governmental cooperation to protect the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor. Originally established in 2004, this marine highway connects Coiba with the Galápagos and is a crucial thoroughfare for everything from hammerhead and whale sharks to sea turtles, rays and pelagic fish, who use it to migrate, feed and, most importantly, reproduce. It follows an expansion of Panama’s marine protected areas to a whopping 38,000 square miles, an act that has added Panama to just a handful of other countries in meeting the requirements of the 30x30 (30% of marine areas protected by 2030) global campaign. Both actions have received praise from across the globe, and Coiba is now one of eight priority destinations set out within the Panama government’s
58 24 NOVEMBER 2022
expert expert ASK THE
Chris Rendell-Dunn travel expert, Journey Latin America
“Of the thousands of people that transit the magnificent Panama Canal each year, hardly anyone gives a second look to its interior. That’s great news if you like rare birds, cloud forests, glorious beaches and indigenous cultures. Indeed, Panama is a country of contradictions where within 20 minutes of taking off over skyscrapers in the capital, you can touch down in indigenous territories such as the San Blas Islands. This sun-drenched chain of Caribbean islets is an autonomous zone run by the indigenous Kuna, who are determined to preserve their traditional way of life and the natural environment. We offer a community- managed sustainable tourism programme that supports these aims as well as other ecotourism initiatives supporting the nation’s seven indigenous groups.”
new tourism strategy – a strategy which has at its core the recognition that conservation, research and tourism can go hand-in-hand. After authorities were criticised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature for illegal fishing within the Coiba National Park, the region looks set to be on the receiving end of more-robust marine conservation practices, and there is a sense of optimism for what the national park – and Panama’s tourism industry – can achieve.
BENEATH THE SURFACE After just two days in the national park, both within its tropical moist forests and beneath the waves, I’m sold on the islands and their inhabitants, among them the endemic Coiba mantled howler monkeys, whose booming baritone barks punctuate the morning air, and critically
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travelweekly.co.uk
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