Panamanian Expedition: Wildlife Conservation Frontiers Smithsonian's National Zoo March 18-23, 2014
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
Panamanian Expedition: Wildlife Conservation Frontiers
Smithsonian’s National Zoo
March 18-23, 2014
Venture into the jungles of Panama for a unique wildlife experience led by Smithsonian
amphibian conservation expert Dr. Brian Gratwicke. Learn firsthand about the Panama
Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project’s efforts to build a modern day Noah’s ark for
some of the world’s most endangered amphibians. You will get a private tour of the rainforests
of Barro Colorado Island, the world’s most intensively studied rainforest, and to the breathtaking
landscapes of El Valle de Anton, an extinct volcanic crater in the heart of Panama that was once
home to the famed Panamanian Golden Frog. Finish your adventure by exploring some of the
cultural highlights of old Panama City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Panama Canal,
one of the modern engineering wonders of the world.
Day 1 – Tuesday, March 18
Arrival and welcome dinner at Gamboa Rainforest Resort
Day 2 – Wednesday, March 19
Tour of Barro Colorado Island
Day 3 – Thursday, March 20
Visit to Rainforest Discovery Center in Soberania National Park
Trip to the Smithsonian’s Amphibian Rescue Center in Gamboa
Dinner at Miraflores Locks
Day 4 – Friday, March 21
Travel to the El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center
Day 5 – Saturday, March 22
Trip along the Panama Canal
Visit to the recently opened Frank Gehry-designed BioMuseo
Tour colonial Panama City at Casco Viejo
Farewell Dinner
Day 6 – Sunday, March 23
Departure
Day 1 – Tuesday, March 18
Arrival at Panama City’s Tocumen Airport and private transfer to Gamboa
Welcome dinner at Gamboa Rainforest Resort
Built in 1911, Gamboa is one of
only a handful of permanent Canal
Zone townships, built to house
employees of the Panama Canal
and their dependents. Located at
the "end of the road" and serving
as the only connection to the rest
of the Canal Zone, Gamboa is
home to the new Gamboa
Amphibian Rescue Center and
adjacent to significant tracts of primary rainforest. A trail that follows an old pipeline ("Pipeline
Road") is one of the premiere bird watching sites in all of Central America.
Day 2 – Wednesday, March 19
Morning boat ride to Barro Colorado Nature Monument in Gatun Lake
Tour of Barro Colorado Island
(2-3 hour hike or by boat)
Return to Gamboa in the afternoon with presentations by STRI scientists
Optional night frog-spotting field trip
Barro Colorado
Island (BCI) is a
biological reserve
under the
custodianship of
Smithsonian
Tropical Research
Institute (STRI)
and is the largest
forested island in
the Panama Canal
waterway. The island is part of the Barro Colorado Nature Monument, and since 1923 has been
an international center for tropical forest research. Each year, more than 250 scientists come to
study ecology, evolution and the island’s extraordinary flora and fauna. The 16 km2 island has a
greater plant biodiversity than all of Europe and offers extremely diverse wildlife including over
500 species! Keep an eye out for howler monkeys, white‐faced capuchins, poison dart frogs,
crocodiles and too many birds to mention.
Day 3 – Thursday, March 20
Bird watching at Soberania National Park’s Rainforest Discovery Center
Visit to the Smithsonian’s Amphibian Rescue Center in Gamboa
Dinner at Miraflores Locks
At the Rainforest Discovery Center you
will enjoy spectacular views of Soberania
National Park’s vastness and see canopy
bird species from the observation tower.
Standing above the canopy, see the morning
flight of Keel-billed Toucans, Red-lored
Amazons and the silent and stealthy
movement of Mantled Howler Monkeys.
Continue your exploration on the network of
trails surrounding the Discovery Center and
enjoy the hummingbird feeders that provide
up close and personal views of 10 species of
hummingbirds!
Avid bird watchers can continue birding on Pipeline Road, a wider and more ample trail
providing great spots for making your birding morning a success! During World War II this
pipeline was built along the Panama Canal to transport fuel from one ocean to the other in the
event the waterway was attacked. Fortunately, it was never used. The now abandoned gravel
road built to maintain the pipeline provides excellent walking access to Soberania's 55,000 acres
of tropical rainforest. The park boasts an impressive list of 525 species of birds including the
Black Hawk-eagle, Black-cheeked woodpecker, Black-breasted Puffbird, Broad-billed Motmot,
Blue Cotinga, Purple-throated Fruitcrow, Masked Tytira, Violaceous Trogon, Fasciated
Antshrike, Shining honeycreeper, and a great array of North American migrants. Soberania is
also home to 105 species of mammals including large felines, Tamandua, Two and Three-toed
Sloth, monkeys, and Agouti, some of which are endangered species, as well as 59 endemic plant
species in 4 life zones.
Later, enjoy a visit to the Smithsonian’s Amphibian Rescue Center in Gamboa. In 2008, the
facility was established with modified shipping containers to serve as amphibian rescue pods on
the grounds of the Summit Zoo (20mins outside of Panama City) to compliment the EVACC
facility (El Valle) and build capacity for ex-situ conservation in Panama. The project has since
moved to the grounds of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute’s Gamboa Field
Station. The new facility has 7 amphibian rescue pods to house the endangered amphibian
collection and insect production facilities. A second phase will involve the construction of an
amphibian laboratory for use by scientists working on amphibian conservation and research in
Panama.
Over dinner at the Panama Canal’s Miraflores
Locks, you will enjoy up-close views of ships
being raised and lowered in the locks chambers.
Miraflores is the name of one of the three locks
that form part of the Canal, and the name of the
small lake that separates these locks from the
Pedro Miguel Locks upstream. In the Miraflores
locks, vessels are lifted (or lowered) 54 feet
(16.5 m) in two stages, allowing them to transit
to or from the Pacific Ocean port of Balboa in
Panama City. Ships cross below the Bridge of
the Americas, which connects North and South
America. The locks were one of the greatest
engineering works ever to be undertaken when they opened in 1914. No other concrete
construction of comparable size was undertaken until the Hoover Dam, in the 1930s.
Day 4 – Friday, March 21
Travel to town of El Valle to see the El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center
Return to Panama City
Nestled in the crater of an extinct volcano, El Valle is a
picturesque little town famous for its golden frogs and
home to the El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center.
Since 1980 more than 120 species of amphibians have
gone extinct, compared to 5 bird species and no
mammals. One of threats responsible for these enigmatic
declines is a disease called chytridiomycosis, caused by
the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd
for short), which was discovered by Smithsonian
scientists in
1998.
Scientists think
that the disease
was spread around the world on the skin of African
Clawed frogs that were being used in the 1940’s for
human pregnancy testing. When this novel disease
arrived in a new country, it spread rapidly in the water,
often leading to amphibian declines as it spread.
Gastric brooding frogs in Australia, Golden Coqui
frogs from Puerto Rico, Monte Verde Golden toads
from Costa Rica, Panamanian Golden Frogs from
Panama and Wyoming toads from the US are all extinct in the wild because of Bd.
One‐half of the EVACC is devoted to quarantine, treatment and captive breeding efforts, and the
other half of the facility is open to the public and exhibits native Panamanian amphibian species.
The central exhibit showcases the golden frog, a cultural icon and a national symbol for wildlife
conservation in Panama. The market place is famed for traditional Panamanian arts and crafts,
many of which feature the Panamanian Golden Frog.
Day 5 – Saturday, March 22
Boat trip on the Panama Canal
Visit to the recently opened BioMuseum
Tour colonial Panama City at Casco Viejo
Farewell Dinner
Our journey begins where the Chagres River flows into
Gatun Lake, 26 meters above sea level. Cruising
southbound, the first highlight of the day will be crossing
Gaillard Cut, the narrowest section of the Panama Canal. The
13.7-kilometer long portion of the waterway was carved
through rock and shale between 1904 and 1914 and it is
flanked by the backbones of the Continental Divide. The
original width of Gaillard Cut was 92 meters. In order to
accommodate the demands of today's transit needs, the Panama Canal Authority recently
completed the monumental task of widening the Cut to 192 meters in straight sections and up to
222 meters in curves. This allows for unrestricted two-way traffic of Panamax vessels, the largest
ships that can currently fit in the Panama Canal locks. The majestic Centenario Bridge soars
over Gaillard Cut.
As the cruise continues you will reach the first
set of locks that you will cross. At Pedro
Miguel Locks, the ship will be lowered 9
meters into Miraflores Lake. While you enjoy
lunch on board, you will reach Miraflores
Locks, which are the tallest in the canal's locks
system due to the extreme tidal variation of the
Pacific Ocean. In two steps, the ship will be
lowered from 17 meters above sea level to sea
level. The transition from fresh water from the
Lake and lock chambers to salt water in the Pacific Ocean takes place here.
Before leaving the Panama Canal and entering the Pacific Ocean you will sail under the bridge of
the Americas, which rises over 100 meters above sea level, reuniting the land divided during the
construction of the Canal and forming a link on the Pan-American Highway. You will disembark
at the Flamenco Marina in Panama City.
A short drive will bring us to the recently inaugurated BioMuseo. This museum, housed in the only Frank Gehry-designed building in Latin America, is a global landmark and tribute to the rich biodiversity of ocean and land species of the Panamanian isthmus that bridges two contintents. It is funded by the Amador Foundation and backed by the Panamanian government, with scientific support from the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Panama. The 4000 m2 footprint contains eight permanent galleries, exterior exhibits and a botanical garden designed by Edwina von Gal. Many of the structural elements also become educational points, with a semi-interior colonnade of 16 pillars that describe mankind's effect on the Panamanian ecosystem, and two large aquariums that host the different aquatic species in the Caribbean and Pacific oceans. After the Biomuseum, tour colonial Casco Viejo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Originally built and settled in 1671 after the destruction of Panama Viejo, by Captain Henry Morgan, Casco
Viejo Panama was constructed as a walled city on a peninsula to protect its settlers against
another siege. What makes 'Casco' (as the residents call it) so unique is the number of original
building structures still stand today. While the buildings are in various stages of renovation and
disrepair, the 16th & 17th century Spanish & French Colonial architecture is breathtaking and
only one of the many reasons to see this historic attraction.
Day 6 -- Sunday, March 23
Private transfer to Tocumen Airport
Departure
Details and Pricing:
Maximum 14 participants
Price per person (6-9 participants): $1,905.00 + 7% tax (based on double occupancy)
Price per person (10-14 participants): US$1,660.00 + 7% tax (based on double occupancy)
Single occupancy supplement fee: $560.00 + 7% tax
Includes:
6 day/5 night trip in Panama
Hotel transfers to/from airport
5 nights of lodging (Gamboa Rainforest Resort nights 1-3; Finisterre Marriott Executive
Apartments nights 4-5)
Transportation within Panama
Dinner on Day 1
Breakfast, lunch and dinner on Days 2-5
CONTACT:
Guide services on tours Nicole Karl Ernst
Park, museum and related fees Office of Advancement
2 Smithsonian Representatives Smithsonian National Zoological Park
202-633-0072
Not included: ernstn@si.edu
International airfare
Hotel extras (room service, laundry, etc.)
Personal gear (binoculars, etc.)
Personal expenses such as mini bar and room services
Travel and personal insurance (strongly recommended)
Alcoholic beverages
Excess baggage fees
Passport, visa and
inoculation fees
Extra tours
Meals and activities not
indicated in the itinerary
GratuitiesYou can also read
