Panama Canal Through The Chagres River

Itinerary

Day 1: Arrival to Panama City

Stop At: Adventures Panama, Calle 63 Oeste, Panama City Panama
We will greet you at Tocumen International Airport and shuttle you to a Panama City Hotel. At the hotel, we will hold a welcome meeting for the group at 7 p.m. in the lobby.
Duration: 12 hours

Stop At: Panama Canal, Panama City Panama
Today its only a welcome !
Duration: 6 hours

No meals included on this day.
Accommodation included: Panama City Hotel

Day 2: Panama Canal Miraflores Locks & Panama City Tour

Stop At: Miraflores Locks, Panama City, Panama
We will pick you up at your hotel at 9 a.m. for a complete tour of the city. After all that paddling, you will have a relaxing and efficient tour around the more interesting sights, giving you both a historic and modern look at the city.

You will learn about the development of the Panama Canal and its economic impact at the Miraflores Locks. Here, you are able to see passing ships and you can enjoy a documentary about the creation of the canal, its economic and strategic impact, and the recent expansion of the Canal.

The Panama Canal Museum offers interesting artifacts and a close overview of the French and American approaches to constructing the canal. Once you are a Canal expert, we'll tour the city.

In Casco Antiguo, also called San Felipe, you will see a spectacular view of Panama City with visits to historic buildings such as San Jose Church, The National Theater, The Metropolitan Cathedral, The Old Slave Market and the Old Spanish Prisons.

You might also be interested in a visit to the Old Panama Ruins, a strategic spot for Spanish trade during colonial times.

On the Amador Causeway you will be in awe of the beautiful sight, here 3 islands were connected with the mainland by using materials from the Panama Canal excavations. You get to choose from several gourmet restaurants and enjoy the view of ships leaving the Canal and the exciting city.
Duration: 2 hours

Stop At: Casco Viejo, Avenida Central, Panama City Panama
also called San Felipe, you will see a spectacular view of Panama City with visits to historic buildings such as San Jose Church, The National Theater, The Metropolitan Cathedral, The Old Slave Market and the Old Spanish Prisons.
Duration: 2 hours

Stop At: Amador Causeway (Calzada de Amador), Av Amador, Panama City Panama
you will be in awe of the beautiful sight, here 3 islands were connected with the mainland by using materials from the Panama Canal excavations. You get to choose from several gourmet restaurants and enjoy the view of ships leaving the Canal and the exciting city.
Duration: 2 hours

Stop At: Panama Viejo, Via Cincuentenario, Panama City Panama
You will visit a strategic spot for Spanish trade during colonial times. The first city established in mainland of the continent
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes

Meals included:
• Breakfast
Accommodation included: Panama City Hotel

Day 3: The Chagres Challenge

Stop At: Chagres National Park, Carretera Madden, Colon Panama
Get ready for an early start at 5 a.m. You will be picked up and taken in an all-terrain vehicle to the remote village of San Cristobal, which is past the mountains of Cerro Azul, northeast of Panama City.

After a wild 4x4 drive through our own made highway, you will hike for about 2-3 hours on a trail within Chagres National Park, up to Rio Piedras, a Chagres River tributary or all the way to Chagres River. Here you will get into rafts and float downstream (Class II-III rapids) into the untouched jungles of the upper basin of the Chagres River.

We will have lunch by the river and continue rafting further downstream passing an impressive granite canyon with some white water rapid action, and ending just before encountering Madden Lake, also known as Lake Alajuela. Along the route, you will be picked up by a “piragua” (native wooden canoe equipped with outboard motor) that will take you to the Embera Indian Village around 4-6 p.m.

These Embera Natives migrated to Chagres National Park more than 20 years ago, here they found habitat similar to the one they were familiar with in the Darien jungles, near Colombia. They are extremely friendly and will invite you into their village as honored guests. You will most likely set up camp under one of their palm tree roofed huts and be served their staple dinner of fried plantains and locally caught fish.
Duration: 15 hours

Pass By: Embera Drua Villiage, Panama
It is the first village that we will encounter

Pass By: Emberá Purú Village, Panama
It is the second village that we will encounter navigating downstream

Pass By: Centro De Salud Cerro Azul, Panama City, Panama
We will drive next to it

Meals included:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner
Accommodation included: Overnight in tents at river bank

Day 4: Embera Indian Village by the Chagres River

Stop At: Comunidad embera Tusipono, Colón, Panama
After thanking the Embera Natives for their kind hospitality, we will switch our rafts for expedition kayaks and begin paddling across Alhajuela Lake, for 3-4 hours.

You will paddle through the remains of a 'drowned forest,' where only the very tips of the tallest trees, that once thrived here, now barely break the surface of the water in this man-made lake. You will navigate through the water channels as you make your way to the public boat ramp of Nuevo Vigía, on the western coast of Alhajuela Lake. Here, the driver will meet you, and shuttle you across Madden Dam to a section of the Chagres that connects Alhajuela Lake to Gatun Lake.

This leg of the trip will take around 3 hours, you'll be able to spot wildlife on either side of the river, it's even possible to see small alligators. At the end of the day, around 4pm, you'll stop at another Embera village for the night, just short of Lake Gatun and the town of Gamboa. If they have ample space and resources, then you will once again indulge in their hospitality, setting up camp in a hut and eating locally sourced fish.
Duration: 15 hours

Pass By: Chagres River, Gamboa Panama
We will finish today paddling very close to Gamboa area where we will camp

Meals included:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner
Accommodation included: Overnight in tents at Katuma Embera Village by Gamboa

Day 5: Paddle Gatun Lake along Barro Colorado

Stop At: Gatun Lake, Panama City Panama
In the morning, Embera Natives will once again shuttle you in piraguas, this time you will travel across to the west side of the Panama Canal. From here, your exploration of the canalthrough the original locks). With the expanded Canal, you might also see larger Neopanamax that are crossing through the newly inaugurated Third Set of Locks.

You will be paddling in a narrow channel reserved for smaller vessels just outside of the Panama Canal shipping lane, practically in the shadows of massive Panamax vessels (a name reserved for the largest possible ships that can traverse the canal).

Birds such as the king fisher and fishing eagles are common here. Ideally, you'll find a spot for lunch where you can watch turtles and Jesus Lizards (lizards with the ability to walk on water).

Eventually, you'll make your way around Barro Colorado, a famed Smithsonian natural research island. For this you have to rely on navigational techniques, to make your way through the tropical islands that guard the western passage around Barro Colorado.

At the end of the day, around 4 p.m. you'll set up a wilderness camp on a smaller island adjacent Barro Colorado.
Duration: 1 day

Pass By: Barro Colorado Island, Panama
We will paddle along it

Pass By: Miraflores Locks, Panama City, Panama
We will be paddling Gatun Lake, the main body of water of the Panama Canal, outside the navigation channel of vessels

Meals included:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner
Accommodation included: Overnigth on tents by Gatun Lake shores

Day 6: Paddle Gatun Lake North

Stop At: Gatun Lake, Panama City Panama
After practicing 'leave no trace behind' techniques while taking down camp, you will truly put your paddling skills to the test as you tackle what remains of Gatun Lake, starting around 9 a.m.

Islands become less frequent in this section of the lake, and you will feel as if you are paddling through open waters, guided by a small lighthouse in the distance.

This section also offers unique views of large shipping vessels in the canal. You can track their steady progress from a distance, one after another as you yourself, travel alongside them.

Hopefully, you will find a nice shady lunch spot on one of the few islands in the middle of the lake, around noon.

On the far side of Gatun Lake you will see ships lined up, waiting for their turn to enter the locks and continue their passage through to the Atlantic Ocean. Large families of howler monkeys are known to roam the jungle forests in this area and will no doubt applaud your completion of Gatun Lake with their signature howl.

Here you will set up another wilderness camp just short of the Gatun Locks around 4pm
Duration: 8 hours

Meals included:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner
Accommodation included: Overnight at tent camp by Gatun Lake shore

Day 7: Fort San Lorenzo

Stop At: Fort San Lorenzo, Colon Panama
Today you will meet up with your driver who will take you to the north side of Gatun Dam and you'll start kayaking around 8:30 a.m.

You will be put in directly downstream of Gatun Dam just in time to watch the jungle awaken, likely encountering some morning mist. This is the final stretch of the Chagres River which flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

After 3-4 hours of paddling through dense tropical forest, you will reach the Caribbean, with a view of the old Spaniard conquistadors' Fort San Lorenzo. You will be transported back in time as you explore the remains of the once crucially important fortress, that starting in the XVI century, prevented Caribbean pirates from using the Chagres to launch surprise attacks on Panama City in the Pacific.

After visiting Fort San Lorenzo and having lunch, we will head back toward Panama City and reach the hotel around 4 p.m.

To get in and out of this area, by road, we will go across the Panama Canal by way of the ferry boat or a new built bridge in our vehicle.

If time allows we will visit the newer set of Panama Canal Locks, Agua Clara.
Duration: 8 hours

Stop At: Agua Clara Locks, Avenida Bolivar Lago Gatun, Colon 0301 Panama
We will visit it if time allows it
Duration: 1 hour

Meals included:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
Accommodation included: Overnight at hotel in Panama City

Day 8: Departure

Pass By: Panama-Tocumen International Airport, Avenida Domingo Díaz, Panamá, Panama
On the 8th day we will send you off with a shuttle back to the airport.

Meals included:
• Breakfast
No accommodation included on this day.