tourism

New trail unveiled in national park

The 14-kilometer trail winds through sections of Chiriquí´s majestic Parque Internacional La Amistad.

Environmentalists have inaugurated a new, 14-kilometer trail through the Lagunas Perdidas de Boquete, in the hope that more Panamanians and tourists alike will come to appreciate the area and want to care for it.

The trail, which winds through a section of Chiriquí´s majestic Parque Internacional La Amistad, starts at Cerro El Pianista, and passes through the Ngöbe-Bugle community of Horqueta and Bajo Mono before ending at the Lagunas Perdidas, so-called for their "hidden" location at the base of the Salamanca mountain range.

The trek takes about two days and guides nature lovers through jungle areas teeming with wildlife.

The president of the Asociación para la Conservación de la Biósfera, Ezequiel Miranda, said that the opening of the trail is part of a project to involve the community in the nationwide development of ecotourism activities.

The trail´s designers also built an observation center out of local materials, where park rangers can monitor remote areas and aid in controlling illegal hunting, logging and land poaching, which frequently occurs along the park´s buffer zones.

The park, which straddles the border with Costa Rica, is home to Baird's tapirs, giant anteaters, all six species of neotropical cats, including the jaguar, puma, ocelot, margay, oncilla and jaguarundi. Monkeys, coatis and over 600 bird species of birds live in the park´s protected rainforest canopies.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated the Parque Internacional La Amistad as a World Heritage Site in 1983.