Birdwatching Holidays

7 Days / 6 Nights

 Panama is a country of birds. Over 960 different species of birds have been counted on Panamanian territory. This 7 days itinerary takes you to two hot-spots for birding in Panama: Gamboa and El Valle. At both locations excellent ornithologist guides will accompany you on your tours. With their knowledge of the area and the professional bird watching equipment you will be able to spot many birds that are new for you. The tropical Gamboa and the mountain village of El Valle are two very different locations – so you will be able to spot different species in each habitat.

Day 01  - Arrival – Panama City – Canopy Tower

Start of your birdwatching holidays in Panama. Upon arrival at Panama City International Airport you will be transferred to the Canopy Tower. The Canopy Tower is located on top of Semaphore Hill, in a well preserved semideciduous tall forest in the heart of Soberanía National Park. It is at an altitude of 900 feet above sea level, and from its roof you can see the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal and the skyline of Panama City, just 30 minutes away. Its privileged position makes ideal as a base from which to start exploring the forests of central Panama, as well as the Canal and other historical attractions. At the base of the road up Semaphore Hill is Plantation Road, a good, easy graded dirt road where you can walk through more than three miles of mature forest. A ten minute drive takes you to the gate of the famous Pipeline Road which runs for 11 miles through wetter forests in the heart of Soberanía National Park.

The Canopy Tower has five levels that offer different views of the forest around it. The flat roof is a great place to watch the canopy, as well as the Panama Canal and, in the distance, the skyline of the city. The top floor, covered by a 30 feet high geotangent dome (a variation of Bucky Fuller’s famous geodesic dome), is used as the main dining area, and is completely surrounded by panoramic windows. The floors below house 12 two-person bedrooms with large windows and a full bathroom with hot-water showers each. Below the rooms, a mezzanine with more windows adds viewing opportunities of the lower levels of the forest canopy. Finally, the ground floor will house exhibits about the environment and the surrounding forest and the animals that live in it.

Overnight at the Canopy Tower, Standard room, all meals and tours included

Day 02   Canopy Tower – Lake Gatun Boat Tour

This morning at 8AM you will board The Snail Kite, a 20 ft. boat with a 65hp outboard motor, for a spectacular tour on the Panama Canal. Most of the Canal is actually an artificial lake, Lake Gatun, and your tour will take you from Gamboa, just 15 minutes from the Canopy Tower, to the Atlantic side at Gatun Locks. Along the way you will pass huge cargo ships and ocean liners and will also visit hidden coves and beautiful inlets with fascinating fauna and flora. You will pass by the world famous Barro Colorado Island, managed by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. You will then stop in the islands of the Primate Research Center for a look at several species of monkeys, namely: Howler and Spider monkeys and White-faced Capuchins. You will stop in one of the many islands for a swim and a picnic lunch. You are scheduled to be back in the Canopy Tower by noon.

In the late afternoon you will do some more birding around Semaphore Hill and Plantation Road.

Overnight at the Canopy Tower, standard room, all meals and tours included

Day 03   Canopy Tower – Pipeline Road Tour

Today you will do birding at the world famous Pipeline Road. Pipeline Road is the best place in Central Panama to find forest birds, and plenty of them. Eight species of wrens, five trogons, four puffbirds, three motmots, many antbirds and even more flycatchers have been reported from the road. And if its 17 Km are not enough, there’s plenty of side trails plus eleven creeks and rivers that can be followed into the forest. Army antswarms are found frequently, attended sometimes by Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo, and there are many Manakin leks right beside the road. Pipeline Road is also a great place for raptors: all three Forest-Falcons are heard if not seen with ease, and Tiny and Plumbeous Hawks and Ornate Hawk-Eagles have been reported a few times. A Harpy Eagle was seen one time right beside the road!

Overnight at the Canopy Tower, standard room, all meals and tours included

Day 04  Canopy Tower – Canopy Lodge

No need to wake-up early today. After a leisurely breakfast and a last look at the birds from the observation deck of the Canopy Tower, you will be picked up by a comfortable a/c bus for the 2 hour ride to El Valle de Antón, also known as Crater Valley. You will spend three nights in this lovely village, nestled in the crater of an extinct volcano that exploded 5 million years ago.

The resultant scenery is quite unique- a steep valley surrounded by jagged peaks and filled with flowers, streams and verdant forests. No wonder it is one of Panama’s most popular getaways. If today is a Sunday, you will arrive in time to visit the “Sunday Market” when artisans come down from the surrounding mountains to sell their goods. The El Valle Sunday Market is considered one of the best supplied in the region. This will be an excellent opportunity to buy local handicraft directly from the “manufacturer.” Prices are usually negotiable. There are ceramics, bateas (wooden trays), weaved baskets, hats, carved and painted totumas (cups made from squash) and trinkets made from acorn, as well as vegetables, fruits, ornamental plants, flowers and orchids.

Your home for the next three days will be Canopy Lodge, sister company of the Canopy Tower, a charming small hotel built next to a lovely mountain stream and adjacent to the protected area of Cerro Gaital Natural Monument. In the gardens surrounding the lodge you can easily see species like the Crimson-backed, Blue-gray, Dusky-faced and Plain-colored Tanagers, Social Flycatcher, Ruddy-ground Dove, Barred Antshrike, Yellow-faced Grassquit, Rufous-tailed, Violet-capped Hummingbirds and Clay Colored Robin. After lunch, you will start birding the foothills by visiting the nearby Cariguana trail where we can expect to see some of the specialties of this rich avian region, for example: Lesser Elenia, Yellow-olive Flycatcher, Rosy Thrush Tanager, Rufous and White Wren and the Lance-tailed Manakin.

Overnight at the Canopy Lodge, Standard room, all meals and tours included

Day 05   Canopy Lodge

Today you will wake up early and go birding around the mountain trails surrounding the crater where it is possible to find one of the most sought after species in neo-tropical birding: the Rufous-vented Ground Cuckoo. This area also offers frequent sightings of Emerald Toucanets, Orange-bellied Trogon, Spotted Barbtail, Common Bush Tanager, Black-faced Grosbeak, Rufous-capped Warbler, Gray-headed Kite, Tawny-capped Euphonia, White-tailed Emerald, Violet-headed Hummingbird and if you are lucky you might see a Scaled Antpitta and a Black-headed Antthrush.

After lunch, those who wish will also have the opportunity to experience The Canopy Adventure. A series of zip lines high in the canopy by which travelers can explore the rain forest using safe and modern climbing techniques. After an invigorating short climb to the top of the ridge through bird-rich forest, you strap in and soar through the treetops, where you see a wealth of unexpected natural beauty and activity. Swooping from platform to platform high among the sturdy cloud forest trees, you pass over the stream and waterfall not once, but twice.

The Canopy Adventure is located in a private refuge in the foothills above El Valle. The main attraction of this refuge is a beautiful 150 feet high waterfall called Chorro Macho; the birdlife and the flora are especially rich and diverse because the area has been a wildlife refuge for several years. The principle purpose of this refuge, apart from the obvious task of keeping the area free from poachers and loggers, has been to provide sustainable, nature-based employment to 10 young men who would otherwise be cutting down the forest through slash and burn agricultural methods in order to survive and raise their families. The refuge is a way to keep the forest ecosystem whole while providing much needed employment. Those who prefer not to do the Canopy Adventure can explore the trail around the waterfall where it is possible to see the Dull-mantled Antbird, Tawny-crested and Dusky-faced tanagers, Bananaquits, Green and Little Hermits as well as trogons and mot mots.

Overnight at the Canopy Lodge, standard room, all meals and tours included

Day 06     Canopy Lodge

Another day of birding in the foothills will take you early in the morning to the northern rim of the crater to explore the trails of the Chorro Macho private reserve. Some very special birds have been sighted here: the majestic White Hawk, the tiny Tody Motmot, the melodious Stripped Cuckoo and the elegant Sunbittern will be high in your list of target species as well as some colorful tanagers and honeycreepers like the Silver-throated, Golden-hooded and Bay-headed Tanagers, Blue Dacnis and Scarlet-thighed Dacnis. This trail will also offer good possibilities of seeing Brown-hooded and Blue-headed Parrots, Squirrel Cuckoo, Wedge-billed Woodcreeper, Black-chested Jay and Crimson-crested Woodpecker.

In the afternoon you will visit the private gardens of a local birder who maintains well-attended feeders attracting certain foothill specialties difficult to see otherwise; like the striking Flame-rumped Tanager and the rare White-lined Tanager. Other foothill species coming to the feeders are: Buff-throated Saltator, Black-striped Sparrow, Blue-crowned Motmot and Red-crowned Woodpecker. Perhaps the biggest highlight of this amazing birding spot is the huge colony of Chestnut-headed Oropendolas located in a group of Eucaliptus trees right next to the feeders. These magnificent birds come down to the feeders and dwarf the other participants of the feast. This is a great opportunity to take close-up pictures of a bird normally seen high in the trees. It is also fascinating to see the parasitic Giant Cowbirds sneaking in the long nests of the oropendolas to lay their eggs.

Overnight at the Canopy Lodge, standard room, all meals and tours included

Day 07  Canopy Lodge – Panama City – Departure

Today you will have an early breakfast and travel outside El Valle to visit a patch of dry forest just one hour away near the small village of El Chiru. The contrast with the lush and wet foothills of El Valle is dramatic. This habitat consists of relatively permanent growth of low and often straggly bushes and small trees with grass interspersed. It is a distinctive habitat of the Pacific lowlands and there is little of it left because most of the population in Panama has settled in the Pacific Coast. You will search for Pale-eyed Pygmy-Tyrant, Crested Bobwhite, Rufous-browed Pepper Shrike, Brown-throated Parakeet, Blue Ground Dove, Fork-tailed Flycatcher and Pearl Kite among other feathered residents of this scarce scrubby area. Bird activity is high during the first few hours then it gets hot and it will be time to return to the much cooler foothills.

After this morning tour you will be picked up by one of our drivers and provided with a transfer back to the International Airport for your flight back home. End of your birdwatching holidays.

Rates

£ 1,710 pp double occupancy valid from 1 Nov 11 – 10 Nov 11 & 15 Oct 12 – 31 Oct 12

£ 1,550 pp double occupancy valid from 11 Nov 11 – 14 Dec 11 & 16 Sep 12 – 14 Oct 12

£ 1,920 pp double occupancy valid from 15 Dec 11 – 22 Dec 11 & 02 Jan 12 – 15 Apr 12

£ 2,135 pp double occupancy valid from 23 Dec 11 – 01 Jan 12 (Christmas/New Year Period)

£ 1,275 pp double occupancy valid from 16 Apr 12 – 15 Sep 12

Rates are subject to change

Price include:

•  3 Nts Canopy Tower, Standard Room (B/L/D)
•  3 Nts Canopy Lodge, Standard Room (B/L/D)
•  2 daily bird watching tours
•  Ground transfers on A/C motor coaches
•  All taxes and service charges

Price do not include:

• International airfare
• Airport Departure Tax (US$ 20.00 per person – usually included in airfare)
•  Tourist Card (US$ 5.00 for certain nationalities)
•  Optional tours
•  Meals not mentioned
•  Beverages
•  All extras in the hotels
•  Voluntary tips

Important Note:
• Minimum 2 passengers.

Rates are subject to change and exchange rate fluctuations.

BOOKING FORM - TERMS AND CONDITIONS 

Hotels offered can be up or downgraded according to your requirements. Furthermore beach extensions, city breaks, excursions, day tours etc. can be added to complement your holiday. Please do not hesitate to contact us for a custom made proposal.

Tel. 0203-287 7587 or email info@latintravel.co.uk

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