You will be picked up at the lobby of your hotel by your guide for a 45-minute drive to the town of Gamboa, where the Chagres River meets the Panama Canal. Here you will board an expedition boat and depart on an adventure that will include a voyage across Gatun Lake in the Panama Canal, passing by gigantic cargo ships transiting the waterway, making a stark contrast with the natural surroundings. Along the way, you will have the opportunity to spot green iguanas and three-toed sloths resting on tree branches, crocodiles, and ospreys in the hunt for peacock bass, snail kites, and keel-billed toucans, among other wildlife.

Gatun Lake was formed to give way to the Panama Canal in 1914. With a surface area of 423 km2, it was the largest man-made lake in the world at the time of its creation. The flow of all the rivers within the Panama Canal’s watershed is contained in Gatun Lake to provide water for the operation of the lock systems. More than 52 million gallons of fresh water are used for every ship that transits through the Panama Canal.    

Your expedition boat will allow close encounters with rainforest-covered islands (former hill tops) in Gatun Lake to search for white-faced capuchin, mantled howler monkeys, the Central American spider monkey, and Geoffrey’s tamarins. A picnic lunch on the boat is included. You will be dropped off at your hotel in Panama City in the early afternoon.