Page 100 - The Rough Guide to Panama (Travel Guide)

98 The Panama Canal and CenTral isThmus The road To Gamboa
The road to Gamboa
Once beyond the Miraflores and Pedro Miguel locks, the road to the somnolent Canal-era
town of Gamboa (Carretera Gaillard) skirts the emerald rainforest of the contiguous
Parque Nacional Camino de Cruces and Parque Nacional Soberanía, both of which have
trails to suit hikers, bird-lovers and anyone interested in the Spanish conquest. It then
ascends to the continental divide at the Parque Municipal Summit, before swooping down
2 to the bridge across the Río Chagres, which marks the entrance to Gamboa. Unfortunately
buses to Gamboa, though regular, are infrequent, so visiting several sites in one day is
tricky unless you have your own transport. A saloon car will do for most sights, though for
the road to Camino de Cruces you will need high clearance or 4WD in the rainy season.

The Culebra Cut
Beyond the Miraflores Locks the Canal narrows into the infamous Culebra Cut (formerly
the Gaillard Cut), where more than two-thirds of all the original Canal excavation
occurred. Its 13km stretch posed the most persistent technical headache for engineers,
and severe landslides continued long after the eventual opening of the Canal. On the left,
a little beyond Paraíso, the Canal’s former dredging headquarters, rows of small white
crosses mark the French Cemetery, which sits on the continental divide, a poignant
reminder of the doomed French attempt to build a canal in the 1880s (see p.295).
The road then climbs, passing a turn-off to the elegant, cable-stayed Puente
Centenario, opened in 2004 to celebrate Panama’s hundred years of independence.
After 3km of dense rainforest the road forks: to the right it cuts through Parque
Nacional Soberanía to the Transístmica and the new motorway, both of which link
Panama City with Colón, while to the left it continues to Gamboa.

Parque Nacional Camino de Cruces
The park entrance is 2km up the Carretera Chivo Chivo, a right turn a couple of bends beyond the Miraflores Locks • Daily 8am–4pm • $5;
camping $6/person • T500 0839 • Any Paraíso or Gamboa bus from Albrook’s bus terminal (see box, p.74) will drop you off at the bottom
of the Carretera Chivo Chivo, which requires a high-clearance vehicle, or 4WD in the rainy season
Despite bearing the name of the conquistadors’ famous trade route across the isthmus
(named after the now-submerged settlement of Cruces), Parque Nacional Camino de
Cruces is often overlooked as a tourist destination. Yet, while it is hard to escape the
sound of nearby traffic in places, the reserve is a prime location for spotting sloths and
provides important traces of colonial history.
There are four trails: the Sendero Capricornio provides an easy 1km circular stroll
from the park office through mainly dry semi-deciduous forest. But it’s worth
expending slightly more energy on the Sendero Mirador (3.2km total), which offers a
moderate hike up to a breezy wooden watchtower, affording an impressive panoramic
view of the Canal and distant city skyscrapers. The remaining two trails, the Ruinas de
Cardenas and a section of the Camino de Cruces, are both still in need of clearance
work, though you don’t need to venture far along the latter before you’ll come across
some of the original cobblestones.
Camping is permitted near the park office, though there are no facilities beyond a
toilet and running water.

Parque Nacional Soberanía
Providing the most accessible substantial body of tropical rainforest from Panama City,
a mere thirty-minute drive away, PARQUE NACIONAL SOBERANÍA is one of the country’s
most visited national parks and well worth exploring. Stretching north and west from
the park office, it hugs the Canal and encircles Gamboa, covering more than 190

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