The Canopy
It takes barely an hour to drive from the Casco Viejo of Panama City to The Canopy Tower, with a short hike from where we parked. It is an old US radar tower which gives excellent views over the surrounding rainforest. After the US handed the radar tower and its territory back to Panama, Raúl Arias de Para transformed it into a comfortable and magnificent wildlife observation centre. Since 1999, visitors from around the World have been able to enjoy the delights of The Canopy Tower. It is a very worthwhile treat.
If you make it to The Canopy Tower, don’t plan to sleep in! The arrival at dawn of a wide variety and number of birds to the surrounding canopy is wonderful. The occasional roar of the howler monkeys adds to the excitement of being in the jungle. Their calls always leave a tingling up my spine.
During my stay, many varieties of animals came to visit, including: howler monkeys, sloths, tamarins, iguanas, and coatis. As for the tropical birds, the list is too long to name, but I loved watching the vultures, toucans, aracaris (ugly toucans), hawks, warblers,….
Most of the other people staying were fanatical bird watchers and had come to Panama specifically for a birding tour. One of the guides for the centre took a group of us into the surrounding jungle where we spotted dozens of small and colourful tropical birds.
