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Although Panama has some
of the most diverse wildlife in the Western Hemisphere, the country is largely
undiscovered as an ecotourist destination.
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By Joe Rubin
Special to ABCNEWS.com
P A N A M A C I
T Y, Panama -While its neighbor to the north, Costa Rica, is the
ecotourism superpower, Panama is considered by many experts to be the most
biodiverse country in the Western Hemisphere.
Of course, when most people
think of Panama, they don't think of rare wildlife and miles of deserted
jungle-lined beaches. They think of the U.S. military zone along the Panama
Canal and ousted dictator Manuel Noriega. Panama's reputation as a vacation spot
is so poor, in fact, that few of the thousands of tourists who pass through the
Panama Canal every year on cruise ships even bother to disembark. But all that
may be changing.
Now, after a decade of relative stability and on the eve of
the handover of the Panama Canal to the Panamanian government, there is
considerable effort under way to turn this Central American nation into the next
ecotourism hot spot.
Unexplored Wilds
As
a land bridge between North and South America, Panama nurtures plant and animal
life from both continents. Its jungles house more species of birds than all of
North America and Europe, along with jaguars and howler, spider, white-face and
night monkeys. Hundreds of miles of undeveloped coastline are lined with
unexplored coral reefs.
There are even rain forests right inside Panama City.
Metropolitan Park has hiking trails, monkeys and pristine dry tropical forests.
National parks, great beaches and the Smithsonian's Barro Colorado Island are
all within an hour of the city.
If you decide you want to explore Panama's
jungles, coastlines and cities, you'll be hard-pressed to find a guidebook to
show you the way. (Lonely Planet, however, is slated to publish its first book
on Panama in January).
And you're not likely to bump into many fellow
tourists, either. After my plane dropped dozens of backpackers in San Jose,
Costa Rica, everyone who remained on board besides me was either Panamanian or
on business (Panama is a major trade and banking center).
Strolling the Canal
When I landed in balmy Panama City around midnight, sans
guidebook, I snagged a few fliers for hotels and ended up at the Hotel Montreal.
Even at $14 a night, it was so shabby and noisy it was no bargain.
But the
next day, I did a bit of investigating and found the Hotel California, where I
could live it up in a spacious clean room with a view of the ocean for 20 bucks
a night.
I also met up with Anna Corina Smith, a recent graduate of the
University of Pennsylvania. Anna, who was going to help me with translation on a
news story, also agreed to show me around her city for a day.
We ended up on
a wonderful grassy causeway at the beginning of thePanama Canal, where we sat in
a cheap, open-air restaurant where ordinaryPanamanians come to drink rum, listen
to Latin pop and watch the ships come in. The bullet marks in some of the
buildings from the U.S. invasion a decade ago are the only signs that this spot
was at one time less than tranquil.
Military Installation to Tourist
Destination
In just over a year-Dec. 31, 1999-the canal and the
lush 80,000 acres that surround it return to Panamanian control. The rain
forest, jungle and national parks that line both sides of the canal hint at the
country's promise as ecotourist's dream.
Enterprising Panamanians are poised
to catch the wave. The swank Miramar Intercontinental, (an amazing place to stay
with spectacular views if you can afford $235-$1,000 per night) recently broke
ground on a multimillion-dollar $400-a-night hotel and-you guessed it-rain
forest theme park.
Meanwhile, Raul Arias, one of Panama's leading
intellectuals (once a key opposition leader against Noriega) is spending his
days transforming a giant U.S. military radar tower into a bird-watching hotel
in Soberania National Park. He plans to start taking guests Dec. 15.
From the
outside, with its daunting chain link fence and sign warning "U.S. Military
Personnel Only" the tower still looks like a military installation. But the
inside has been completely transformed. A spiral staircase winds around the
tower through four large levels. Each floor has giant windows revealing another
fascinating level of the rain forest.
The top two floors feature a dining
room and open air rooftop observation deck where you can easily spot rare bird
life and monkeys. From the roof, you look out over the national park, and in the
distance, there are all manner of ships traversing the Panama Canal. Arias has
hired a former poacher (who knows the rain forest better?) as a guide. He's
determined to prove to Panamanians and tourists alike that ecotourism is a
sustainable way to preserve his country's forests.
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