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The trees shook, followed by loud howls. “Howl, howl, howl, howl!” We looked up, but all we could see was movement and nothing else. The boat captain revved the engine again. Once again, the trees shook, followed by loud howls. It sounded like dogs were barking and howling up in the trees. We all laughed with fascination. Someone yelled, “Do it again!” The captain obliged and revved the engine. He did it a couple more times, and each time, the trees shook, followed by loud howls. Our guide said that the howling was the Howler Monkeys. They howled upon hearing the revved engine as to say, “Go away!’ thinking we were intruding on their territory. The experience was definitely one of the most memorable on our recent trip.
We visited Monkey Island on the Gatun Lake by boat. We saw capuchins, tamarins, and bats, and of course, we heard the howler monkeys. Gatun Lake is a freshwater artificial lake that forms the central part of the Panama Canal. The lake was created by damming the Chagres River, thus flooding the rainforest in this area. Monkey Island and other islands were once on top of the rainforest mountains. Today, these rainforest remnants are one of the few accessible areas where various native Central American animal and plant species can be observed undisturbed in their natural habitat.
A Capuchin Monkey peeks out from branches on Monkey Island at Gatun Lake near Gamboa, Panama
In September, my girlfriend and I took a week-long trip to Panama City, Panama and Cartagena, Colombia. Her sister got married in Houston, TX, so we decided to take a quick vacation thereafter. We are a Star Alliance member, so we often fly with United Airlines and its partners, such as Copa Airlines. We saw affordable flight deals and went for it. Usually, we like to plan detailed trips and do our own itinerary. However, we book tours through Viator if we are short in time for quick trips.
Our primary destination is Cartagena, Colombia, so we were only in Panama City for a few days. We could only do a few things while there. One of the highly rated tours was “Ocean to Ocean Panama Canal and Jungle Tour” (https://bit.ly/3YdvKol). Panama is a narrow strip of land dividing the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Its isthmus is roughly only 50 miles at the narrowest point. The Panama Canal, a man-made canal, traverses the isthmus to allow ships a shortcut between oceans. The tour started in Panama City (Pacific side), where we stayed, and ended in Colon (Atlantic side) before returning to where we started.
Early Morning Start
We stayed at the Casco Viejo, the Historic District of Panama City, at Hotel La Compañia, part of the Hyatt Hotels Unbound Collection (https://expedia.com/affiliate/gL7DrRL). It was the site of La Real y Pontificia Universidad de San Javier, which was founded as the first University of the Republic of Panama by the Jesuits. UNESCO inscribed Casco Viejo and the Panama Viejo (the ruins of old Panama) as a World Heritage Site: Archaeological Site of Panamá Viejo and Historic District of Panama.
Out of about ten guests on the tour, we were the only ones at Casco Viejo, so we were the first passengers picked up at 6 a.m. Our hotel gave us a boxed breakfast, which was nice. We met our guide, Nidia, and driver, Elial, and loaded up in a large white passenger van. We had to pick up the rest of the guests from around downtown Panama City, giving us a little tour of the city before driving to our first stop, about an hour away.
Panama Canal Jungle Tour
Our stop was a small boat dock in the town of Gamboa. Nidia, our guide, talked about the history of Panama and the Panama Canal along the way. As we approached Gamboa, she mentioned that Gamboa was a town built to house employees of the Panama Canal and their dependents. It is located on a sharp bend of the Chagres River at the point which feeds Gatun Lake. We met up with another tour van, which had only the “Jungle Tour” part of our more extended tour.
Our guide talked about the importance of the Chagres River and how it formed the majority of the canal, pointing to an informational map by the dock. We loaded up on a small speed boat to begin our boat tour. We sat in the mid-section of the boat. It had a roof that covered the length of the boat, but otherwise, it was open air. Altogether, we were about twenty people with our guides and our captain, Captain Johnny, on the boat. It took a good 20 minutes to get to Monkey Island. We saw several large cargo ships transiting through the Panama Canal along the way. We navigated through a narrow waterway as we approached Monkey Island. The island had trees with branches low enough to touch the lake. Captain Johnny maneuvered the boat closer to the island’s edge near the low-hanging branches.
A large cargo ship cruises along the Panama Canal near Gamboa, Panama
We started to see rustling on the branches. Monkeys! Nidia informed us the monkeys were capuchins. Capuchin Monkeys have been used in many movies and television shows. In Central America, they are called the white-faced monkeys (“carablanca”). Some monkeys were playful, and a couple jumped onto our roof. We stayed there for several minutes admiring the wildlife. Nidia told us that the monkeys were probably expecting food from us. Still, she advised against feeding wildlife to avoid interfering with the monkeys’ diet and behavior – becoming dependent on handouts. The boat pulled away from the island, and we stayed there for a few minutes to check out more wildlife, where the monkeys were, and the adjacent island on the narrow waterway.
That was when Captain Johnny revved the engine to get the howler monkeys to howl. Some passengers said they saw the howlers up in the trees, but I couldn’t see any from where I was. However, seeing the capuchins and hearing the howlers howl still made for an incredible and memorable experience.
We moved on to another nearby island, looking for more wildlife. We spotted a couple of boats bunched up near an island. Our boat captain mentioned that tamarins were the residents of that island. Sure enough, a Geoffroy’s Tamarin was on the bow of one of the boats. These tamarins are also known as the Panamanian. They are red-crested or rufous-naped tamarins, a type of small monkey. Our guide mentioned that it’s a rare monkey. The occupants of the other boat were feeding the tamarin to entice it to come into the boat, to the chagrin of our guide—she didn’t support feeding wildlife. The tamarin was skittish and returned to the trees after getting its fill with whatever food they were giving him. We pulled out a little and saw other tamarins swinging in the trees.
After all the monkey excitement, we started returning to the Gamboa dock. We passed through the narrow waterway again, and this time, our guide pointed out some interesting bats clinging onto a tree trunk. They are Proboscis Bats, which are found in South America and Central America. This species is in the family Emballonuridae, the sac-winged or sheath-tailed bats. They were tiny and unusual in how they clung to the tree bark like insects.
Proboscis Bats cling to a tree at Monkey Island at Gatun Lake near Gamboa, Panama
We disembarked the boat at the dock, and the two tour groups split back into our respective vans as our group made more stops. We stopped at a small shop and restaurant in Gamboa for a bathroom break and to purchase drinks. Our driver also picked up some authentic Panamanian lunch for us later that day.
Ashlee holds a small Panama flag in front of the Agua Clara “letras” at Agua Clara Locks Visitor Center near Colon, Panama
Agua Clara
Afterward, we were headed to our next stop, Agua Clara Locks. Agua Clara Locks on the Atlantic side and Cocoli Locks on the Pacific side are Panama Canal expansion locks to allow for transit of larger, New Panamax ships, which have a greater cargo capacity than the previous locks were capable of handling. The new locks began commercial operation in 2016. Agua Clara Locks has a visitor center and an observation deck to view cargo ships transiting in or out of the Panama Canal. From the deck, the old Gatun Locks are visible in the distance. These are the old locks for smaller ships. At Agua Clara, we saw two cargo ships transiting out of the canal into the Caribbean Sea. We had seen one of the ships, a Santos Express cargo ship, earlier while at Gatun Lake.
San Lorenzo National Park
Finally, we were headed to our final stop, San Lorenzo National Park in Colon. San Lorenzo and Portobelo comprise the World Heritage Site: The Fortifications on the Caribbean side of Panama. When we got there, we had our delicious lunch at the park’s picnic area. We had some ensalada de repollo—shredded cabbage and carrots with a tangy sauce—and arroz con pollo. While having lunch, some coatimundis (or coatis) came out to forage some leftovers. These are like raccoons.
After we finished our lunch, we checked out the fortress itself, Fort San Lorenzo. We walked the perimeter and stopped at the overlook of the mouth of the Chagres River. Nidia pointed out where the old town of Chagres was, which was now flooded when the river was dammed to create the Panama Canal. It was depopulated, and the hundreds of former residents were resettled to New Chagres, some eight miles out. In fact, several villages were now flooded to make the canal a reality.
It had rained some while we were in the fort. We took shelter in one of the tunnels below. Fortunately, the rain only lasted for a few minutes. In one of the tunnels, there was a massive backlit map of the New World, along with some annotations. Nidia told us the history of the fort and Panama, including the attacks by pirates and others.
The Spanish fort, completed in 1601, protected Panama in the Caribbean from pirates and other European powers. In 1670, English buccaneer Henry Morgan ordered an attack that ruined Fort San Lorenzo. Fort San Lorenzo has been designated as government-protected since 1908. In 1980, UNESCO declared Fort San Lorenzo, together with the fortified town of Portobelo about 30 miles (48 km) to the northeast, to be a World Heritage Site. UNESCO describes the fortifications as: “Magnificent examples of 17th- and 18th-century military architecture. These Panamanian forts on the Caribbean coast form part of the defense system built by the Spanish Crown to protect transatlantic trade.”
Old cannons line up in a defensive stance atop Fort San Lorenzo in Colon, Panama
Return to Panama City
Around 2:30 p.m., it was time to head back to Panama City. The van was quiet for the most part during the drive back, as everyone was resting after a long day of sightseeing. Once in Panama City, passengers were dropped off one at a time. This time, we were the last ones to get dropped off. We arrived back at our hotel a little after 4 p.m.
Despite the early start, this tour was excellent, and I highly recommend it. This would be the choice if it’s the only tour you can do in Panama.
Tags: Agua Clara Locks, fort san lorenzo, jungle tour, monkey, panama, Panama canal, wildlife
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