Over my time living and guiding in the Bocas del Toro archipelago, I’ve become pretty familiar with a great deal of the Bocas del Toro archipelago largely thanks to Tranquilo Bay Eco-Adventure Lodge where I guided guests across incredible array of excursions offered to adventurous souls and those that want to view birds and wildlife, including a number of species that can’t be found on the island archipelago, but rather on mainland Bocas.
Hence, a mainland hop might be just what your time in Bocas del Toro needs.
Shameless Plug: I do offer mainland birding tours from sea level to the continental divide for a plethora of ecosystems yielding maximum amount of mainland birds here on the beautiful Western Caribbean Slope of Panamá. Check for more mainland tours to Green Acres Chocolate Farm and boating the Changuinola Canal through mainland Bocas del Toro.
Loma Partida, I was joined by my very first official “co-guide in training”, Tito, a cook at the Loma Partida Resort. Here, he is observing one of the larger insects you’ll find around Bocas and he can tell you in Spanish what eats them and why their inner wings are red. Tito’s interest in nature is all the motivation I need to work harder towards bringing together more potential ecoguides like Tito as we delve together into the forest and see what we might find. There’s much to see on the islands but the mainland is a different experience altogether, one that I highly recommend.
I’ve had chance to get to know well this archipelago, most of all, the exceedingly lovely Tranquilo Bay. From there I took guests all across the island chain and beyond. I’d guide guests kayaking through the mangrove ecosystems to snorkeling delicate coral reefs, I’ve shared the unique flooded forest habitat and turtle nesting sand beaches of the famous Zapatillas cays to the charismatic Gary and his Green Acres Chocolate Farm and mainland rainforest tour.
I always loved leading many a guests into the darkness of the Nivida bat cave on Bastimentos, kayaking up its quiet creek, hiking along with red frogs hopping at our feet and stepping into cool, crisp stream waters that formed enormous stalactites and the historic wonder of the cave itself into which we descend.
For the birdwatchers, we make day-trips to the mainland to find birds that didn’t make it out to the archipelago. We transport guests by boat to specific mainland spots to be shuttled to key birding hotspots along the road and up to the continental divide or if you prefer a slow boatride along the seven-mile long Changuinola Canal that cuts into lowland Bocas mainland near Isla Colon. We have chances to see poison-dart frogs, toucans, both species of sloths, our wide array of kingfisher species, squirrel cuckoos, even an emerald basilisks or perhaps a great potoo and if we’re really lucky, a tamandua or neotropic river otter.
To get to the mainland for the continental divide excursion, we pass through “split hill” or Loma Partida which is where a hotel I’ve passed many a time called Loma Partida Aqua Lodge exists. It is a place I recently had the opportunity to explore thanks to good friend and colleague Jou Scroop who invited me on a recon mission to see about future day tours there.
And I felt so fortunate to be invited, it was dreamlike out there and a pleasure to start to get to know the Loma Partida community and find potential eco-guide students, including my star of a student, Tito, a young Ngäbe man in his early twenties with a great interest in delving into the forest with me and seeing what we can find.
Now sit back and take in the sights of mainland Bocas on this beautiful forest adventure and enjoy a peek at some of the most spectacular jewels that hide in the jungle and, as always, thanks for watching.
~@stacebird
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