Barro Colorado Island, Panama
We awoke this morning in Gatun Lake, part of the Panama Canal, to a beautiful sunrise and snail kites soaring around us. They were searching for large snails which are amazingly the only prey they eat. After our breakfast, a more varied fare than the snail kites’, we were ready to go explore Barro Colorado Island. This reserve is famous, as most of what we know about tropical rainforest ecology has been learned from long term research conducted here. One of the island’s scientists gave us an overview on both the historical and current projects undertaken here and we realized how lucky we were to be able to visit the preserve.
To explore the island we split into groups, some of us riding in Zodiacs and others walking the trails of this island, which was once a mountain before it was flooded and isolated by waters from the Chagras River to make Gatun Lake. Peering up into the rainforest, we watched mantled howler monkeys, white-faced capuchins, and even some spider monkeys. A crested guan flew across our trail, a treat indeed since this bird is heavily hunted and no longer common. Keel-billed toucans, feeding in a tall canopy tree, alerted us to their presence with their repeated calling. Deep in the forest and apparently unaware of us, a collared anteater lay sprawled on a limb at eye level. How incredibly special and wonderful it is to watch all these animals just being who they are and doing what they do. Barro Colorado is truly a unique window into tropical forest life.
In the afternoon we arrived at Gatun Locks. After waiting for the cargo ship that we would be transiting with, we entered the first lock. A tiny rowboat with two men daringly approached the giant ship, dwarfed by its hull, and threw out lines to tie the ship to the motorized mule that ensures the ship's straight course through the lock. The gates closed and soon we were dropping with the emptying waters, 28 ft in 8 minutes. A downpour started and we wondered if the lock would be able to empty after all! Finally, two more locks and we were through. What an amazing experience and what a wonderful way to end our trip with a transit through the Panama Canal.
We awoke this morning in Gatun Lake, part of the Panama Canal, to a beautiful sunrise and snail kites soaring around us. They were searching for large snails which are amazingly the only prey they eat. After our breakfast, a more varied fare than the snail kites’, we were ready to go explore Barro Colorado Island. This reserve is famous, as most of what we know about tropical rainforest ecology has been learned from long term research conducted here. One of the island’s scientists gave us an overview on both the historical and current projects undertaken here and we realized how lucky we were to be able to visit the preserve.
To explore the island we split into groups, some of us riding in Zodiacs and others walking the trails of this island, which was once a mountain before it was flooded and isolated by waters from the Chagras River to make Gatun Lake. Peering up into the rainforest, we watched mantled howler monkeys, white-faced capuchins, and even some spider monkeys. A crested guan flew across our trail, a treat indeed since this bird is heavily hunted and no longer common. Keel-billed toucans, feeding in a tall canopy tree, alerted us to their presence with their repeated calling. Deep in the forest and apparently unaware of us, a collared anteater lay sprawled on a limb at eye level. How incredibly special and wonderful it is to watch all these animals just being who they are and doing what they do. Barro Colorado is truly a unique window into tropical forest life.
In the afternoon we arrived at Gatun Locks. After waiting for the cargo ship that we would be transiting with, we entered the first lock. A tiny rowboat with two men daringly approached the giant ship, dwarfed by its hull, and threw out lines to tie the ship to the motorized mule that ensures the ship's straight course through the lock. The gates closed and soon we were dropping with the emptying waters, 28 ft in 8 minutes. A downpour started and we wondered if the lock would be able to empty after all! Finally, two more locks and we were through. What an amazing experience and what a wonderful way to end our trip with a transit through the Panama Canal.
