I cannot express the amazement and exhilaration I experienced when I was invited to spend a weekend in a floating hotel on Gatun Lake. It was simply amazing to be in the middle of the Panamanian rainforest in the middle of the night… in silence and complete darkness. The starry sky with no lights for dozens of kilometers around is wonderful. The sounds of the jungle, thrilling. One of the best experiences of my life.
Entering the jungle
Panama City is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, and Gatun Lake on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. So we were taken on a boat tour of the Panama Canal, navigating among the many ships that made the canal tour.
The canal is literally a ditch of epic proportions that they dug from one coast to the other through an absolutely dense rainforest. Previously there were waterways and roads used by the locals to get around. It is so dense that literally once you get into the jungle down the cover, the dense vegetation makes it look like it’s about to get dark.
As it is an artificial construction, the course of the canal does not have to cross any orographic feature -such as a waterfall or similar-. The difference in height level between the oceans is bridged through the three locks arranged along the canal, and this is done in a controlled manner, so that on a normal day the canal does not have a strong current, nor does it have waves -not even ripples-. The only disturbances in the water are caused by the boats as they move.
The trip was seasoned with small stops that the captain made to show us the flora and fauna of the jungle. When the boat’s engine stopped, some animals showed themselves and even approached the boat.
The most daring visitors were the cariblancos monkeys (Cebus capucinus), also known as white-faced capuchin monkeys. They are small, light brown or beige, with white faces, and are very active and curious.
A mother with her baby had no problem getting on the boat to pick up the piece of banana that the captain offered her. There could be 10 or 12 of us on the boat, but that did not deter her.
Of course there are also crocodiles watching, they are in their perfect habitat with waters with little current and a huge multitude of mammals swarming around. At one stop we come across some young crocodile hatchlings. The crocodiles abandon their young, so for a certain period of time they are prey to other predators.
A wildlife milestone for me was meeting a sloth monkey (Choloepus hoffmanni) for the first time in my life, because there is something of him in me on Sunday afternoons. His movements were at 0.5x, and we were already able to offer him all the bananas we had that the guy/she didn’t get stressed at all and just stood there, watching us.
Sloths are endemic to Central America and parts of South America, so I consider myself -again- a lucky guy. I have yet to see an Indri lemur, and the baobabs, so I will have to plan – finally – a trip to Madagascar.
Floating lodge
What I experienced there is something that everyone should experience at least once in a lifetime. Like many other things, yes. But spending a night in the middle of the deep jungle is definitely one of them.
My privilege took place at the Jungle Land Panama Floating Lo, a floating hotel on a secluded branch of Gatun Lake, located literally in the middle of nowhere. At the time of writing this web entry it appears that it is no longer active as an accommodation. It is a real shame. And it’s not the first time I’ve visited absolutely mind-blowing places and after a while they no longer exist or are no longer available. Mental note: travel to your pending places as soon as you can. You never know.
The advantage of being on a houseboat in the middle of the jungle is, for first-timers like me, knowing that whatever it is that makes those sounds in the middle of the night is not going to be swimming in the lake to get on the houseboat. The sense of tranquility would not be the same when staying overnight in a house on dry land, let alone in a tent. So the houseboat was a perfect choice.
The lodge is equipped with several guest rooms and meals are served in a common outdoor area.
Wildlife
The surrounding flora and fauna is amazing. Beyond how dense the Panamanian jungle is, the cast of animals it harbors is exceptional. What is to see, relatively few animals are seen compared to the animals that are heard. The nocturnal concert that begins at dusk is spectacular. I didn’t get to see any mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata), but what is to hear, I heard them. A group of 5 or 10 monkeys that surrounded the houseboat at about 2 in the morning. Or so it seemed to me hahah.
The Geoffroy’s Titi Monkey or Tamarin is a very peculiar animal.
It is very curious, and looks very fierce.
But of course, since he doesn’t lift an inch off the ground, you can give him a banana. A nice guy.
We were also able to see an endangered squirrel monkey, which the owner was taking care of in the house to protect it from predators.
And as a finishing touch, the sensation of a snake’s skin rubbing against your neck. It wasn’t the first time I’d done it – in 2006 I held another, even larger snake in Key West – but because it’s so unusual, the sensation of the snake’s scaly skin still makes my hair stand on end. Cool.
Kayak excursion to waterfall
All of the house guests except us came for the day trip only, which included a kayak trip to a waterfall in the middle of the jungle.
The channels we kayaked through were quite narrow and we got stuck a couple of times waiting for the monitor to clear the passage. Surely there was some kind of animal claiming for itself the place we had to pass through.
We reached the waterfall after a long time of paddling and it turned out to be an idyllic spot. The water coming down was crystal clear -although the lagoon had a muddy bottom- and there was enough depth to perch on the waterfall and jump.
As the rest of the excursion had to return to Panama City, the monitor very kindly showed us how to find our way back in the kayak – there was no way to get lost – and agreed that if we were not back by a certain time, he would come for us. They all left in their kayaks and left this little corner of the planet to ourselves.
Yes, these things also happen in real life to ordinary people like me, how wonderful!
Thanks for reading! You may keep exploring using the menu below