Length of Tour
9-Days/8-Nights
Basic Itinerary
Day 1: Arrival in Panama City / Riande Hotel
Day 2 – 4: Darien & Harpy Eagle
Day 5: Drive from Darien to Gamboa
Day 6 – 8: Gamboa, Pipeline Road and surroundings
Day 9: Flights home
Detailed Itinerary
Day 1
- Arrival in Panama City
Upon arrival in Panama City you will transfer to the Riande Aeropuerto Hotel via their free shuttle, 5 minutes from the airport, where we will meet as a group, have a nice dinner and prepare for our journey to eastern Panama! Dinner and overnight at Riande Aeropuerto Hotel, Panama City.
Day 2: Depart for Darien with birding along Pan-American Highway
After an early breakfast at the hotel, we will begin our journey towards Darien, one of the most biodiverse areas of Panama. Our first stop will be in the Bayano Lake and Rio Mono area of eastern Panama Province, where we will look for Black Antshrike, Jet Antbird, Orange-crowned Oriole, One-colored Becard, Rusty-winged Antwren, Green-and-rufous Kingfisher, Barred Puffbird, Pied Water-Tyrant, and other eastern Panama species.
We will carry on to the town of Torti for lunch, where we will watch the hummingbird feeders as we enjoy a local meal. This afternoon we will carry on to Meteti. After a short break we will head out further along the Pan-America Highway, where we hope to see Striped Cuckoo, Pearl Kite, Spot-breasted Woodpecker, Spot-crowned Barbet, and Spectacled Parrotlet, among many others. Overnight at Bellagio Hotel or similar (Meteti).
Day 3: Harpy Eagle Nest Visit
We will get an early start and today’s journey will include driving, riding in a dug-out canoe on one of Darien’s many rivers, and a hike through Darien forest to a Harpy Eagle nest. Please keep in mind that even though the nest will be active, we cannot guarantee that the eagles will be in sight. Visiting a known nest site of this incredible rainforest raptor may give us good chances to see a young Harpy Eagle or if lucky, one of the adults nearby.
On the way, we will search for more Darien specialties such as Great Green Macaw, Gray-cheeked Nunlet, Choco Sirystes, Golden-headed Manakin, Golden-green Woodpecker as well as Semiplumbeous Hawk and many more. Tayra, Geoffroy’s Tamarin, and Northern Tamandua are possible mammals we might encounter. After our time at the nest, we will retrace our steps back to our hotel, birding in strategic spots along the way, as time allows. Overnight at Bellagio Hotel or similar (Meteti).
Day 4: Darien lowlands birding & return to Panama City
Today we will enjoy another full day of birding in Darien. This region is full of range-restricted birds, so spending some more time birding along the Pan-American Highway, El Salto and Lajas Blancas will ensure even more exciting bird sightings. Hook-billed Kite, Blue Cotinga, Double-banded Graytail, Cinereous Becard, Black Antshrike, Bare-crowned Antbird, and Royal Flycatcher are just some of the birds we will be looking for today.
Day 5 – San Francisco Nature Reserve and Drive to Gamboa
This morning we say our goodbyes to the lowlands of Darién, but there is still more birding to do before getting to Gamboa! After breakfast we will gather all of our belongings and make our way back towards central Panama. We will make a well-deserving stop at San Francisco Reserve, a large property owned by the St. Francis Foundation, protecting 1,300 acres of primary and secondary and riparian forests, wetlands, marshes, fields streams and water springs in eastern Panama province.
We will spend a couple hours exploring some of the fantastic habitats here, in hopes to see Sirystes, Broad-billed Motmot, Russet-winged Schiffornis, Royal Flycatcher, White-winged Becard, White-fronted Nunbird, Brownish Twistwing, Yellow-green Tyrannulet, Blue and Plain-breasted ground-doves. By mid-day, we will head to Torti once again for lunch. Lunch in Torti.
Then our journey continues, depending on our time we can stop at Rio Mono bridge and Bayano Lake to search for any species we may have missed. Fasciated Tiger-Heron, Black-headed Tody-Flycatcher and Savanna Hawk are all possibilities! We will end our day at our lodging in Gamboa in time for dinner!
Day 6 – Pipeline Road / Summit Ponds
The legendary Pipeline Road once held the world record for the one-day Bird Count. Hummingbird feeders and an observation tower at the new Discovery Center will bring us many new species. Five trogons, three motmots, four puffbirds, two toucans plus many woodpeckers will keep us busy, but if we run into an ant swarm, beware the whiplash as you try to keep up with the birds!
After lunch and siesta time, we’ll visit Summit Pond to seek Boat-billed Heron, American Pygmy Kingfisher and possibly a day-roosting Spectacled Owl and other species.
Day 7 – Metropolitan Nature Park / Canal
One of the best city parks anywhere, Metropolitan Nature Park is home to Lance-tailed Manakin, Rufous-and-white Wren, Rosy Thrush-Tanager, Black-capped Pygmy-Tyrant, and the endemic Yellow-green Tyrannulet.
After returning to the our lodge for lunch and siesta time, we’ll visit Miraflores Locks to observe the Canal in operation.
Day 8 Pipeline Road / Summit Gardens / Semaphore Hill
Another great morning on Pipeline Road, we’ll take a box lunch with us so we can explore farther down Pipeline Road. Sunbittern, Brown-hooded Parrot, Pheasant Cuckoo and Tawny-crested Tanagers and perhaps a Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo will be found!
We’ll take a packed lunch so we can go directly to Summit Gardens to look for Blue Cotinga and enjoy a visit to the Harpy Eagle Breeding Center.
Before returning to our lodging we will stop at Semaphore Hill for a bit more birding before returning to our lodge for dinner.
Day 9 – Flights Home
We typically plan for a relaxing morning to finish packing and depart for the airport no later than 11:00am to arrive at the airport by 12 noon. Please plan your flights for departure after 2:00pm. HOWEVER, we do understand this may not work for some folks depending upon your home airports schedules… so we can make accommodation for earlier transfers to the airport if needed.
