Panama Sale February 2024

Panama Special Offer and The Pearl Islands

Hello Fellow Travelers!

First let me say, spell check isn't working on my newsletter software, so I apologize for any annoying misspelled words.

I have recently return from Panama and prior to that I was in El Salvador. I was birding in El Salvador in late October and I was there during peak raptor migration and witnessed thousands raptors passing through. There has been a lot of positive changes in El Salvador in recent years and I recommend a visit. I have great local guides and we stay at the best places for birding.

After my El Salvador tour, I traveled to Panama just in time to witness the peak raptor migration there. On October 30th, we witness over 68,000 raptors migrating over Panama City. This was the count from the Hawkwatch station on Ancon Hill. The raptors migrate over the city because of the excellent thermals rising from the urban area. It was 1-week earlier that we witness the massive migration over El Salvador and based on the estimated mileage that the birds cover each day, it was probably the same mass of birds coming through.

I will be heading back to Panama in February. Below you will find info for 2024 dates. There seems to be a lull in tourism in Panama right now, for numerous reasons, both local and global. Many local guides and hotels are not booked as full as they should be compared to previous years. So I am offering a special deal on my posted rates. If you booked before January 1, 2024, I can give you an additional 10% of the posted rates, and the rates have already been lowered compared to previous years. This includes El Salvador.

Click here to view the webpages:

Gamboa

Chiriquí

The Darien

My local guide in Panama is "Nando" and he is what I call a birding savant. His ability to hear and find birds is astonishing. On this past trip, we had time to go birding on our own and did some exploring of new places. At one location, Nando said, "There's a bird from your country". I looked and it was an Ovenbird. I live in the western United States, and I have seen Ovenbirds only a few times in my life because they are an eastern species. This bird was a "Lifer" for Nando, it was such a cool experience to identify a bird for him. The main reason I knew the species was because when I was in El Salvador I saw an Ovenbird. I said to Nando, "Do you think it is the same bird?" and he said "probably" and we both laughed.

Upcoming Panama Dates for February 2024:

Gamboa Rainforest (10 days) February 4 - 13th spots left = 6
Pearl Island trip on February 13th**
Darien Raptors (9 days) February 14 - 22nd spots left = 4
Pearl Island trip on February 22nd**
Chiriquí Cloudforest (9 days) February 23 - March 2nd spots left = 7

**Special Pearl Islands day trip: About 30 miles off the Darien coast of Panama is an archipelago of 200 islands called Isla de Las Perlas, the Pearl Islands. From Panama City it is a 1.5 hour boat ride. During the month of February there are numerous species of sea birds in the area, such as terns, gulls, boobies, and petrels. You can add a day trip to your tour for a fee, or if you sign-up for two tours, back to back, the day trip to the Pearl islands will be included in your tour on the day in between your tours.

More Panama Dates for late 2024:

Panama Chiriquí Cloudforest (9 days) November 4 - 12th spots left = 7
Pearl Island trip on November 13th**
Panama Gamboa Rainforest (10 days) November 13 - 22nd spots left = 7

Details for all tours:

Group Size: 7 travelers, plus guides
Price range from: $3,250 - $3,650 per person double occupancy depending on specific tour. Check individual web pages for pricing.
Rates include: Domestic transfers, lodging, breakfast, lunch, dinner, scheduled group tours, park entrance fees and basic travel insurance.
Not included: International airfare, customs & immigration fees and visas, alcohol, trip cancellation insurance.
Adventure level: Easy for the Gamboa, moderate for the Darien (due to heat and humidity), and moderate for Chiriquí (due to higher elevations), please check the “Welcome” page for definitions.

Special offer: Included with your trip (one per room) is a copy of the field guide “The Birds of Panama” by George Angehr and Robert Dean. You will receive this when you reserve your trip so you will have time to study and know the beautiful birds of Panama.

Recommended Reading: The complete history of the Panama Canal, written by David McCullough and titled "The Paths Between the Sea". It is excellent, and everything you ever wanted to know about the 400 hundred year history of people who dreamed, attempted, and built the Panama Canal. The book was published in 1977 and so ends just before the time that President Jimmy Carter negotiated the Torrijos-Carter Treaty, which was ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1978 and gave the Panamanian government control of the canal. The book weighs about 3 pounds, seriously, it doesn't travel well, so read it before you travel to Panama.

Below is a video from 2022 that I took with my cell phone through the scope.

This male Harpy Eagle was sitting above the nest, overlooking a young chick. The eagle was there for about an hour, and then flew away. Check out the neck rotation of this bird!

Kaiyote Tours Harpy Eagle The Darien Panama

Gamboa Rainforest tour, birds we have seen: Gamboa Bird List

Darien Raptors tour, birds we have seen: Darien Bird List

Animals we have seen: Four species of monkeys (Golden-mantled Howler, Geoffroy's Tamarin, Panamanian Night Monkey, Spider Monkey), Anteaters (Northern Tamandua and Giant Anteater), both 2-toed and 3-toad sloths, Coati, Crab-eating Raccoon, Agouti, Panama slender opossum, Rufous soft-furred spiny-rat, Red-tailed squirrel, Variegated squirrel, and Capybara. Many of the mammals will have babies. We see many reptiles and amphibians including the Spectacled Caiman and the American Crocodile.

If you would like to see photos from a photographer who was on a previous trip,

please click here:

Ersten Imaoka's Photo Album

More Photos below: Sometimes the newsletter is longer than what will appear in the email, and you will need to click on the "view entire message" icon to see all the photos.