Page 282 - The Rough Guide to Panama (Travel Guide)

280 The Darién anD easTern Panama Parque NacioNal DariéN
feel. The mixed population of around three thousand (Afro-Darienite, Emberá,
Wounaan and mestizo) eyes outsiders warily, while gun-toting frontier police officers
routinely patrol the town togged up in full camouflage combat gear.
Yaviza’s only interest to visitors is as a stepping stone to El Real, the gateway to
Parque Nacional Darién, or to the Distrito Cémaco, the northern segment of the
Comarca Emberá-Wounaan, which has been out of bounds to visitors for years on
account of the security situation.
During the day, most of the action occurs at the wharf, where buses pull in: supplies
are loaded onto a flotilla of motorized piraguas headed for communities upriver, while
mounds of plantain and yuca bound for the city are heaved onto trucks, and the
surrounding makeshift fondas and restaurants do a thriving trade.
arriVaL anD inFOrmaTiOn YaViZa
By bus Buses for Yaviza, via Santa Fé and Metetí, leave SENAFRONT headquarters – take the left-hand pavement
Panama City’s Albrook terminal (3.15am–1.30pm; every from the bus stop.
40min–1hr; 6–7hr; $15; express bus at midnight; $21). Parque Nacional Darién HQ If you’re bound for the
Many stop at Metetí, if there are few passengers, where you national park, the MIA office (Mon–Fri 8am–4pm; T299
transfer onto a local minibus to Yaviza (see p.279). Buses 4495), 100m beyond the SENAFRONT barracks, will
leave Yaviza for Panama City (3.15am–1pm; every definitely want to see proof that you have paid your park
40min–1hr) and for Metetí (6am–5pm; every 30min). fees into their Banco Nacional account (see box, p.42) –
Police registration On arrival, visit the heavily fortified there is a branch in Metetí (see p.276 & p.279).
aCCOmmODaTiOn anD eaTinG
8 Travellers heading to Parque Nacional Darién should note that Yaviza is a better place to stock up with supplies than
El Real. After 7pm, you’ll be unlikely to find anywhere serving food.

Hotel Yadarien 50m along the pavement from the Restaurante Oderay 40m along the pavement from
wharf T6757 6186. The town’s best accommodation, but the wharf. This reasonable eating option, with a small
basic; its grubby twenty rooms contain beds in varying dining patio, dishes up a decent plate of fried chicken or fish
states of repair, with fan or a/c and cable TV ($5 extra) and (from around $6), is often packed at breakfast, and has a
private bathrooms. A small first-floor balcony affords a good toilet. Daily 7am–7pm.
prime view of the street below. $20

Parque Nacional Darién
At 5790 square kilometres, PARQUE NACIONAL DARIÉN is the most expansive
protected area in Central America. Created in 1972, it outranks all of Panama’s
national parks in both size and reputation, but is nevertheless one of the least
visited protected areas in the country – reaching the refuge at Rancho Frío requires
considerable organization. That said, the awe-inspiring greenery, laced with rivers
and waterfalls and rich in wildlife, is well worth the time and money, providing a
truly magical experience.
The park hugs the Colombian border, a forested carpet rising from the mangroves,
coastal lagoons and deserted beaches of the Pacific, rippling over the volcanic ranges of
the Serranía del Sapo and Serranía del Jungurudó northeast to the park’s highest point
of Cerro Tacarcuna (1875m), on the continental divide of the Serranía del Darién, and
stopping just short of the Caribbean coast. Numerous important rivers scythe their way
through the green mantle, including the Tuira, Sambú and Balsas.
Now that hiking the Darién Gap has been consigned to history (see p.24), visiting
the national park these days means hiring a guide and staying at the only permanent
camp: MiAmbiente’s refuge at Rancho Frío, reached via El Real.

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