The Darien Gap – A key attraction for tourists

Tuesday, July 25, 2023

In the Panamanian jungle, a migrant from Venezuela, Franca Ramirez, was rushing here and there to arrive at a higher ground as a speeding up river broke its banks as something caught his attention – few young men busy taking photos of the landscape.

Into the Darien Gap, they all were on a day’s journey. In Panama, that infamous stretch of jungle has turned out to be an untrustworthy part of the trip for thousands of people trailing all over the America, anticipating reaching the United States ultimately.

This bumping into was an uncommon incident where two different worlds crashed in one of the wildest places in the planet.

For a long time, this jungle has attracted hardcore adventurers from everywhere. On Panama’s Darien isthmus, it’s known as the “gap” as it is this is only the missing section. On the Pan-American Highway, it runs about 97kms that stretches from Alaska to Argentina.

Only the most fearless of all travelers have undertaken the risk of getting into this once-impenetrable forest, for decades. Evading the bandits and guerillas, hunt for the unusual orchids or the famous green macaw, and looking for the excitement of being one of the few lion-hearted to enter the backwoods where the road ends.

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