Nature Travel

Harpy Eagle (Hans Peeters, 2000)

Increasingly, Panama is becoming an ecotourism destination. Nowhere else in the Americas is tropical rainforest so accessible, even within Panama City where a large tract of rainforest has been preserved as a Metropolitan Park. The forests within the former Canal Zone have been incorporated into the Soberania National Park. An ecotourism infrastructure is developing. Within the former Canal Zone a former radar tower has been converted into a hotel that is now almost inevitably fully booked by international bird-watchers during the dry-season months of December - March (check out the web site of Canopy Towers, address below). Ancon Expeditions, whose web site address is also listed below, has tours to a number of destinations within Panama. Of particular interest to birdwatchers are the trips to the Cana Field Station in the Darien National Park, where the diversity of tropical birds is among the highest in the world.

How can ecotourism contribute to both the long-term preservation of tropical wildlife and the habitat in which it lives and to the cultural advancement of local peoples? Visits to the Soberania National Park provide visible proof to the people of Panama that the forests have substantial economic value and that they should be preserved for this reason alone. Costa Rica is frequently quoted as a an example of country that has benefitted enormously from the high priority it has given to ecotourism; the biological diversity within Panama ensures that Panama will soon be a major international ecotourism destination.

The Harpy Eagle is the National Bird of the Republic of Panama. It formerly was found throughout all of the tropical forests of Mexico and Central America, but is now very rare north of Panama. The loss of habitat, but particularly indiscriminate shooting, have been the principal causes of its disappearance. About twenty pairs occur in the Darien region and two pairs nest within Chagres National Park in the vicinity of Panama City.

Santours is pleased to collaborate with the Conservation Travel Network, a division of Pelecanus, a non-profit corporation, the Golden Gate Audubon Society and the Audubon Society of Panama in helping to preserve the wildlife and natural habitats of Panama. An educational poster based on the painting of the Harpy Eagle, shown above, by the local artist Hans Peeters will be distributed throughout Panama, pointing out that this magnificent species is the national symbol of independence and sovereignty. The poster will also be used in an educational program in the school system that will stress the importance of preserving watersheds and the rich diversity of species, of which the Harpy Eagle is a prominent example. The Golden Gate Audubon Society will be sponsoring a trip to Panama in March 2004; look up the 'Field Trips' page of the website of the Latin America Committee.

Seventy percent of the commissions on airfares booked through the Nature Travel division of Santours will be donated to the Travel Conservation Network to support the Harpy Eagle project; all of any hotel commissions earned will also be donated to this project.

Itineraries for individuals and small groups can also be arranged; contact
naturetravel@santours.com

Additional information on Panama and the activities of the Latin America Committee of the Golden Gate Audubon Society can be obtained at and the site of Panama Audubon,
http://www.pananet.com/audubon

For information on the sites to be visited on the field trips to Panama, please visit the websites of the Canopy Tower
http://www.canopytower.com

and of Ancon Expeditions, which manages the Cana Field Station in the Darien National Park
http://www.anconexpeditions.com

Similar programs that combine ecotourism with local conservation and educational programs are being developed in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and India. Details will be presented in the next version of this website.

We are also developing a data base on accommodation and local travel throughout the world where an ecotourism that will delight the tourist will also being long-term benefits to local environments and societies, Contact:
naturetravel@santours.com