Jungle Land Panama Full Day Tour
My Personal Experience:
Jungle Land Panama Full day Tour: My personal experience. First of all, the transportation company was very punctual, very. Since I was living there and not staying in a hotel, I made arrangements to meet at the nearest hotel which ended up being nearly 40 minutes walking for me. If you know me, that is nothing really unless pressed to arrive somewhere punctually. Which, I walked up right at the assigned time; the driver had already been there 10 minutes and was ready to leave the hotel already. So just be aware if booking the Jungle Land Panama tour…..be punctual!
Our tour group arrived to the docks at Lake Gatun after about a 40 minute drive or so. It was a packed house kind of day, not an empty seat and we had to wait a bit in the parking lot for everyone to arrive. That reminds me of another note, there are NO bathrooms at the public pier and you will not have the opportunity to go to an actual bathroom until you arrive to the floating jungle house another hour or so into the tour. For you women, consider using the restroom just before departing your hotel and skip that second cup of coffee.
Once we departed to our Jungle Land Adventure, we headed almost immediately into the channels of the Panama Canal. And by that I mean we were literally in our small panga style lancha navigating alongside the massive cargo ships. I don’t think I have ever felt that tiny in comparison. Thankfully, Capitan Carl is very familiar with these channels and waterways. He took us through some smaller channels off the sides of the main Panama Canal channel in search for wildlife.
Some of these same small channels we journeyed have existed even before Gatun was made into a lake and the Panama Canal was constructed so I am guessing they were used by some of the pre-columbia native emberra tribes as well many of which are still living just a bit further up the Chagres River from where we depart at Lake Gatun. The channels were narrow so we had more chances to view wildlife such as monkeys, toucans, sloths, tons of tropical birds and my new favorite the snail kites who eat the snails off the reed like grasses growing from the shores. We also saw a large crocodile a bit in the distance swimming away from us and towards the shore. I swear it looked like it could have been nearly the length of our boat, so I was rather relieved to see it was swimming AWAY from us.
After nearly an hour navigating the waterways of the Panama Canal seeking out wildlife and feeding monkeys (great photo ops), we arrive to channel so dense with vegetation I was surprised the boat was able to navigate through it all. Just beyond that we arrived to the Jungle Land floating lodge. We are greeted by a resident Tamarin monkey begging for snacks in exchange for some up close photos. You really have to give credit to Carl for the vision he had and the ingenuity to put it all together. He mentioned something about it being done in stages and is still a constant work in progress as Carl comes up with new ideas daily how to make the experience there more unique.
Once we disembarked, we went upstairs to lounge around a bit in the hammock room. You have to love anyplace that has hammocks really and we all kind of just settled in and relaxed a bit while they prepared our BBQ lunch. Note: they will take special menu requests if they know ahead of time, once out on the floating lodge your options are pretty limited. Not being a meat eater, I was treated to a local treat that was similar to a tamale or something wrapped in a banana leaf; it was very good.
After lunch we had our choice of swimming, kayaking, fishing, or just relaxing in the hammocks. As the weather was pretty much rotten (rainy & wet); nobody really opted for the swimming and instead took a guided kayaking tour through the dense vegetation and narrow channels until we reached a small waterfall. It worked out that since I was travelling alone and the vegetation was so thick that they did not think I would have the strength to paddle through by myself, so I hopped a ride in a canoe with an outboard motor. I was especially thankful when we got to the densest parts and watching the others struggle a bit. All in all though, the whole kayak excursion was well worth it despite all the rain. To get that connected with the jungle with just the silence of the water as you glide by and the unfamiliar sounds of the jungle all around is something that everyone should experience.
Back at the Jungle Land lodge we had a little more free time to kill so Carl introduced us to his pets; a crocodile and a toucan. Kind of rare to have as pets, but this is the jungle after all I suppose. Some of us got to take turns holding the crocodile as well as feeding the toucan. Again great photo ops and a real treat for kids to be able to get that close up with nature. Really this is probably one of the best family activities around as the lodge provides some necessary comforts for a mom with younger ones while the older children are able to explore the surrounding jungle.
What might seem like a long day is actually broken up perfectly so your day goes by quickly, in fact it is now time to depart. We board the boat to head back up the Panama Canal as we make our way to the Lake Gatun Pier. There was not one person on the trip without a smile on their face and the kids were simply amazed by everything. Lucky kids to have parents so adventurous. The Jungle Land Panama tour is a must do activity in Panama if you have children for sure.
I think Panama in general is a good family vacation, with so much culture and history paired with wildlife and nature that children cannot avoid being enriched from the experience. We could all use a little bit of enrichment I think and nothing does that better than a little travelling outside your own country. So cheers to enriching travels and we hope to see you in Panama soon!