Barro Colorado Island, Panama
We awoke this morning to the last day of our exploration through the wild side of Costa Rica and Panama, surrounded by the lush rain forest at Gatun Lake, the main freshwater reservoir and engine that makes possible the crossing of National Geographic Sea Lion through the impressive Panama Canal.
Today’s activities took place in the one of the most researched tropical rain forests in the world, administrated by the Smithsonian Research Institute, the Barro Colorado Island. Half of our guests decided to explore the rain forest for their last time on foot. Braving the muddy trails and drizzling rain, they were rewarded by howler monkeys, agoutis chewing seeds, great tinamous (chicken-like bird) foraging the forest floor, iridescent blue morpho butterflies, plus the impressive entangled arrangement of towering trees, woody vines, large leaf heliconias… among many more plants.
But the breathtaking moment was when the pieces of a termite nest were aggressively thrown down to the ground and the beige and dark brown fur of a Tamandua anteater exposed itself to us … incredible views of this shy animal feeding on the termites using its claws as pick and shovels, and with its hind legs trying to scratch the soldier termites away… a once-in-a-lifetime sight.
The other half of our group explored the edges of this island by Zodiac. Their sightings ranged from crocodiles approaching the Zodiac, to sloths exhibiting their ability to hang upside down from the trees, to troops of howler and spider monkeys browsing the canopy, and colorful toucans swallowing seeds.
The chance to walk or cruise the edges of a forest where the most important data, knowledge and research of the rain forest has been done and continues to be done is a unique experience that regular tourists won’t even consider; in order to make this visit we are the only vessel that divides its transit through the canal into two days. So after lunch our Panama Canal pilot got on board and navigated us through the Gatun Locks, where National Geographic Sea Lion was lowered down 85 feet, now on the Caribbean side of Panama.
The last hours of this amazing expedition were filled with a mix of feelings about the beautiful moments and experiences we shared, the new friends we made, the birds and mammals we saw, and the over 100-year-old Panama Canal, an impressive man-made wonder. Thanks for coming and sharing this week with us.
