30 December 2000
Raúl,
What you have done here in the Canopy Tower makes me doubly proud of the Torrijos-Carter Treaty and its beneficial and just results. We wish you well as you introduce hundreds of visitors to the beauties of Panama's natural resources.
- Jimmy Carter
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Panama's President and First Lady
atop the Tower |
15 April 1999
Raúl y Denise,
Qué orgullo que siento como Presidente de contar con compatriotas como Uds. que hacen de elementos de nuestra historia eventos del futuro!
Qué maravilla!
Qué Dios los bendiga...
- Ernesto Pérez Balladares
Presidente Constitucional de la República de Panamá |
(How proud I feel as President to count among the citizens of Panama with people like you that make events for the future out of elements of our past.
How marvelous!
God bless you...)
He sentido paz en mi alma en este paraíso. Los felicito por tener una visión conservacionista y de protección de nuestros bosques y de nuestra fauna. Les deseo muchos éxitos en esta aventura.
- Dora Boyd de Pérez Balladares
Panama's First Lady
(I have felt peace in my soul in this paradise. My congratulations for having an inclination for conservation and for the protection of our forests and our wildlife. I wish you much success in this venture.) |
April, 2001
Prince Hitachi, brother of the Emperor of Japan, visited the Canopy Tower on April 23, 2001. This was the first time a member of the Japanese Imperial Family visited Panama and of all places he could have visited while in this country, Prince Hitachi chose the Canopy Tower. He is a wise man indeed! |
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For more information about Prince Hitachi, visit the site of the Imperial Family of Japan. |
26 November 2002
To Raúl, Denise and Ariana,
With thanks and gratitude for showing us some of the wonders that nature gave to your country.
I am enjoying this visit immensely!
Muchísimas gracias por la hospitalidad!
- Prince Albert of Monaco |
Prince Albert of Monaco signs the Canopy Tower guest book. We were at the top of the Tower. It was a beautiful day.
From left to right, Denise, Ariana, me, Prince Albert.
(photo by Didier Baverel)
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June 1, 2004
Hi Raúl,
I want to thank you for your hospitality and that of your most excellent staff at the Canopy Tower. I could not have imagined a more welcoming atmosphere in which to have an IFO workshop. The accommodations were extremely comfortable, the food outstanding, and the location atop Semaphore Hill quite remarkable. You have indeed done wonders in restoring the Tower and making it into a first rate ecotourist and conservation facility.
I must also single out your two guides, Carlos and José. There are fine young men, talented and personable. They augmented the workshop in an immense way and it was really fun to get to know both of them. I cannot recall having an easier time anywhere working out logistics with local guides. They are fine representatives of their country and what you are trying to achieve with the Tower.
The workshop featured relaxed birding and classroom sessions with evening slide lectures. The spacious "great room" atop the Tower was ideal for our conversations, classes, and slide-illustrated lectures. I very much appreciated that we were the only group resident at the Tower during the workshop. That made a huge difference in helping me to plan when to do various classes, etc.
I think it was Woody Allen who said half of success is just "showing up." The location of the Tower in that wonderful rainforest in one of the most historically important ornithological study areas in the tropical world makes "showing up" at the Tower almost assure the successful impact of the workshop on the participants. Our field conversations, our chats at dinner, and our often animated discussions over wine before dinner, all within the actual forest itself, monkeys outside, toucans calling, potoo roosting nearby, made the points I wanted to make in bringing ABA folks to Panama. It is fun to be talking about tropical predation and look out and see a perched White Hawk. It's very meaningful to participants to see toucans and tanagers feasting on Cecropia fruits even as I talk of fruiting behavior of birds.
Were I to repeat the workshop I would like to explore the possibility of an all-day outing to Barro Colorado. It is such a profoundly important place in research that I think it would greatly add to the workshop experience.
Muchas gracias Raúl. We had a wonderful experience.
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April 23, 2001
Raúl,
"With many thanks for a priviliged evening and sights of some lovely birds"
- Sir David Attenborough |
Sir David Attenborough (center)
with Raúl and friend |
Howard Baker with Raúl
inside Canopy Tower |
February 11, 2001
Raúl,
"Raul, it gets better and better. Thank you very much for what you do."
- Howard Baker
present US Ambassador to Japan
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May 26, 2001
Raúl,
"...mesmerized by your hospitality, company and enthusiasm. As US Senator and as Regent of the Smithsonian, I appreciate your commitment to our environment."
- Bill Frist
US Senator (Tennesse) |
Bill Frist with Raúl |
Steven J. McCormick with Raúl
inside Canopy Tower |
April 16, 2001
Raúl,
"What a wonderful, delightful time we had here. I could not imagine a
more enjoyable and rewarding introduction to this beautiful country. The
sounds of the canopy will certainly draw me back. Thank you for your
wonderful hospitality."
- Steven J. McCormick
President and Executive Director, The Nature Conservancy |
January 30, 2002
Great experience!
Will inspire new Amador.*
- Frank O. Gehry
Master Architect |
Frank O. Gehry with Raúl |
| * Amador refers to the Ft. Amador area, at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, where Gehry is designing a museum of biodiversity under contract with the Government of Panama. This will be the only building in Latin America designed by this famous architect considered by many one of best architects in the world. He is best known by the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. More about Gehry here: www.frank-gehry.com |
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