Panama Ngäbe-Buglé Indigenous People

Panama is a land of beautiful landscapes and beautiful people, a land of rich culture and ancestral wisdom.  Panama is home to 7 different indigenous groups, among which we find the Ngäbe-Buglé Indigenous People of Panama.  Like other Panama Indigenous groups, the Ngäbe-Buglé (which is supposed to be the correct spelling form and closest to their linguistics rather than Ngöbe-Buglé as appears in some texts) survived over the centuries escaping the Spanish Conquest by retrieving into isolated areas within the Central Mountain Chain, or Cordillera Central, found in the North part of the country towards the Caribbean coast, where their ancestral lands had always been.  Today Panama’s Ngäbe-Buglé people, which are the most numerous indigenous group in the country, are making their way back to mainstream society to some extent.  If you travel to Panama you could almost be sure you’ll see some Ngäbe and Buglé women wearing their colorful dresses, called naguas, and selling some of their crafts, like their well-known beaded necklaces and jewelry, called chaquiras, and hand-made bags or chacarás.  And so, after centuries of struggle, the Ngäbe-Buglé people face an even greater challenge today: finding a way to live in modern society without losing their unique culture.  Sustainable tourism could be the answer they’ve been waiting for.

Panama’s Ngäbe-Buglé People: Historical Fighters

The Ngäbe-Buglé People of Panama are not only the most ancient indigenous group of the Isthmus, but they were also the most fearless indigenous group the Spanish conquerors came across!  The Ngäbe-Buglé people were some of the few groups who stood to the Conquest and defied the Spanish.  One of their leaders, Cacique Urracá, became a true legend among the natives and a complete nightmare for the Spanish, defeating them successfully for 9 years!  Urracá’s fight became so important that the face of this legendary Indian rebel is still found nowadays featured on the smallest denomination centesimo coin in Panama.  Nonetheless, as history shows, the Spanish won against the people of the New World and the Ngäbe-Buglé tribes, just like other tribes, were made to make their way out of their land into the mountains where they were able to safeguard and protect their pre-Columbian traditions and ways of life from the Spanish and later from the world as Panama joined modernity.

Originally the Ngäbe-Buglés were two separate indigenous groups of Western Panama, the Guaymí or Ngäbe and the Bokota or Buglé.  The Ngäbe speak Ngäbere and the Buglé speak Buglére, both members of the Chibchan language family.  The languages of the Kuna, Bribri and Naso (Teribe) indigenous groups also come from the Chibchan language family. The Ngäbe and the Buglé collectively represent Panama’s largest indigenous group with 200,000 people.  Together they share the territory known as Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé, which is kind of a “native reserve”, created in 1997 with lands from the provinces of Bocas del Toro, Chiriquí and Veraguas after historical fighting from these groups claiming their ancestral right to the land and its resources.  The Cerro Colorado copper deposit, one of the largest deposits of copper ore in the world, is located at the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé; the excessive exploitation of this mineral and other resources pushed the Ngäbe-Buglé people to fight  in recent past against Panama’s authorities, which actually hit the news and became a big campaign against the violation of human rights.

The Ngäbe-Buglés possess a cultural richness beyond our “Westernized” understanding of the world around us.  The Ngäbe-Buglé people have a profound love to their ancestors; they are brave, loyal and mystical.  They love their land and their customs.  While some are only now slowly assimilating into modern society, they would give their life away for staying true to their traditions as Ngäbe-Buglés.

Sustainable Tourism: An Answer Worth Trying

Traditionally subsistence farmers, hunters and gatherers, the Ngäbe-Buglés are starting to make their way back to mainstream society to some extent.  Nowadays their means for survival are limited and their traditional ways of sustaining their families is becoming harder and harder.  Ngäbe-Buglé men have to look for temporary jobs at coffee plantations or embark to the city in the hope to earn some money.  Ngäbe-Buglé women, as mentioned before, sell their traditional handcrafts to tourists to help out.  Yet, some Ngäbe-Buglé communities are exploring a new approach for subsistence: community-based tourism.  Sustainable tourism might represent the answer for these indigenous groups that do not want to give up their ancestral ways of life and still make a living for their families and communities.

Ngäbe communities like Soloy, located in the foothills of the Central Cordillera and an important access point to more remote areas of the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé, as well as others are joining this community-based tourism effort offering nature and cultural activities for visitors to boost their economy.  From adventure hikes, to whitewater river rafting, to traditional Ngäbe food and learning from the community elders about their mystical beliefs of how the world was created and the Ngäbe came to exist, a visit to these communities is becoming a new trend in tourism with a bright future and a warm heart.  These sustainable tourism practices not only represent a strong niche for Panama’s expanding tourism industry but a way for Panama and the world to preserve the essence of these indigenous communities, which should NOT disappear or future generations will miss out.

Indigenous groups in Panama are finding a way to co-exist with the modern world through community-based tourism and tourists from all world corners have the opportunity to experience something completely different to anything offered by the modern world.  A true cultural experience waits for you in Panama!