Birds: 4.5 | Orchids: 3.5 | Plants: 3.5 | Landscapes 3.0 | Signposting: 4.5
For those who are looking for an opportunity to know the beautiful and diverse nature of the Cloud Forest of Chiriquí, we recommend you to visit the station in Las Nubes of PILA (Parque Internacional la Amistad). This place is very accesible for the ones who want to go in car. Its trails are in a good condition, signposted and with options for different physical capacities. There you can see various rare birds. The plants are from a secondary forest but it is being re-colonised by the pretty plants from the primary forest.
¡Visíte Finca Dracula!
en Cerro Punta, Chiriquí
Site Description
History
The Parque Internacional La Amistad (The Friendship International Park; also known as PILA), it crosses international borders. It was created by the goverments of Costa Rica (PILA-Costa Rica) and Panamá (PILA-Panamá) uniting the mountain range reserve of Talamana and the PILA, respectively, into a whole entity where the management is share between the two nations.
The park La Amistad (PILA) was declared Human Heritage by UNESCO in 1983 and declared International Peace Park after following the recommendations of the UNESCO in 1988.
At the end of 2014 heavy rains caused a slip in Las Nubes damaging the park infrastructure, mainly to the bridges that crossed the river in the El Retoño trail.This damages are't repaired to the 100% yet, but the park keeper mentioned us that the restoration of the bridges and trails is being negotiated.
Generals
It counts with 3 trails to go:
- Panamá Verde trail, 400 m.
- El Retoño trail, 2.4 km
- La Cascada trail, 3.2 km
They are secondary forests in Las Nubes zone, and while you are getting more into the park you will find the primary forests.
The panamanian side of the park is part of the mountain range called "Cordillera de Talamanca". It occupies 207,000 hectares (511,000 acres) of the cloud forest, being 95% of it in the province of Bocas del toro and the rest in the province of Chiriquí.
The Teribe and Changuininola rivers are the main waterways of this park and both are considered a big potential for the hydroelectric development.
The ANAM (National environment authority) is the one administrating the park.
Why visit it?
It's a world heritage of humanity, located between Costa Rica and Panamá.
It's the last central american felines refuge of the Panamanian west.
Because of its ecological diversity and plants with different sizes and shapes.
To enjoy the birdwatching with lots of bird of different sizes, colours and species. Some of them being migratories and other living in the park.
It's a study place for scientists and biologist of the world.
It's important cultural and ecological value, place it as one of the most important sites to visit in Panamá.
Cost
It has free entrance for every visitor as part of a initiative from the government to promote the tourism.
Horary
The access to the park is from 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., the doors of the park are closed at 6:00 p.m. waiting to the visitors to finish the trails.
Guide?
You can visit the trails without a guide because the trails are marked and have its signposting. There are available guides that can help you to appreciate the plants and birds better. In the end of this page we have a list of recommended guides.
Access by Public Transport
You can pick a bus from the route Cerro Punta – David. You have to ask to the diver to stop in the entrance of “Las Nubes”. From there you’ll hace to walk 1 hour and a half to the entrance of the park. But because of the distance, we’d recommend to pick a taxi from the area and agree with him or she a time to pick you up because in the park there’s no cellphone signal.
Access by Car
You can get trails entrances in any car.
Trails Duration
Watching the entrance could take you 15 minutes, from there, the trails go from 1 hour to 4 hours.
Rainy Season
The trails are well builded and you can walk in rainy season, try going on the morning to avoid the rain in the afternoon.
Bugs
From what we experimented, in the dry season there are no mosquitoes (if there are then they must not be too many because we didn’t get bit) instead, in the rainy season there could be some mosquitoes. if you have long pants and shirt you will be fine or you can also use mosquito repellent. The mosquitos from this zone do not transmit any disease so don’t be worry.
Network Coverage
There is no signal in the park of any company. Close to the entrance there is Claro signal and a little bit down you can get Movistar signal. (We don’t know about Más movil and Digicel because we didn’t used those companies in that moment)
Recommended Equipment and Clothing
Location
Site Map
¡Visíte Finca Dracula!
en Cerro Punta, Chiriquí
El Retoño Trail
El Retoño is an ideal trail for the visitors that want to meet the natural diversity of birds and plants species of the cloud forest in Tierras Altas and don't have too much time to do it. It also the kindness to be relatively flat wich makes it perfect for all the ages and physical capacities.
The trail is about an hour and a half long where you travel a distance of 2,4 km and get to a maximun altitud of 2302 m over the sea level. It starts from the administratives offices to finish in the street that grants access to the park, a few meters far of the park administration.
This trail is ideal for everybody. It's signposted, doesn't have irregularities on the road making it easy to walk in. Its layout was elaborated considering the pass through small streams and crossing a river in some ocations. We must mention that the second road to the river is not signposted and we recommend that when you get there instead of going through what it looks like a trial that goes up and other that goes down, look in the river where you'll see a bridge made with a wooden log. Border the river way down, walking over the watercress plants until you get to the bridge and there you can cross to continue the trail.
In general, we noticed that this zone is being colonised by plants and animals from the inner parts of the park and it's very beutiful to see how the nature is taking back its belongings.
Low Difficulty
It’s relatively flat with some inclinations to climb, 2 rivers to cross; one by foot and the other using a wooden bridge, without difficulty. The trail is clean.
Diverse Flora
The sector is one of the most diverse of all Panamá and Central America. The trail goes through a secondary cloud forest with aroids (Anthuriums and Monsteras), orchids (Stellis, Maxilaria, Ellianthus, Lycaste, Epidendrum and Andidias) Arboreal Fern, Gunneras, mushroom fruits, and others, that are surviving the deforestation of the last century in the primary forests.
Diverse Wildlife
In our road we could see different bird types wich we don’t know the name but we can highlight a big number of hummingbirds and also the opportunity to spot a Grey Head Chachalaca in a really tall tree, it was a nice experience. We listened the singing of a female and male quetzal very close to the trails. It’s advisable to use binoculars or cameras with telephoto lenses to immortalize those unique memories.
Duration: 1 Hour and 30 minutes for 2.4 Km to 2.302 mamsl
Add half an hour to take pictures of the flora and wildlife and also to enjoy the weather and landscapes.
Attractions
The river that you have to pass through sometimes is very pretty con its red rocks.
Cautions
Be careful while crossing the river because the rocks in it are slippery and in the rainy season the river can get flooded. The bridge is narrow so you should go carefully. Be aware that if a heavy rain comes, the temperature can decrease very quickly.
Contacts and Guides
Jorge Santamaria
Jorge Santamaría es un joven con energía, experiencia, responsabilidad y sobre todo capacitado en temas relacionados a la seguridad turística como acompañante. Actualmente miembro del grupo de rescatistas de Tierras Altas. Conoce los senderos del PILA para hacer giras familiares, extremas y de investigación.
Edwin Quintero
Edwin Quintero es un guía con fortaleza, interacción con los clientes, organiza y guía grupos con liderazgo, responsabilidad y con una actitud siempre positiva.
Tiene 8 años de conocer el parque La Amistad y todos sus senderos a disposición de tiempo y capacidad de los turistas
Nariño Aizpurúa
Nariño Aisprúa es un guía con 30 años de experiencia y cuenta con un equipo de 10 guías de la zona para ayudarlo a atender todo tipo de grupos, Especialidades en avistamiento de aves, Senderismo, Safaris nocturnos, Montañismo, turismo de aventuras extremas, circuitos de cascadas, rappel y arborismo.
This post is also available in: Spanish