Experience the best of Gamboa

Gamboa sits on the Panama Canal at the point where the Chagres River joins it, about 25 kilometres north-west of Panama City, a quiet settlement of canal-era houses on the edge of Soberanía National Park. Big ships pass close to the shore in the Culebra Cut, and a research station of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute studies the forest. The Rainforest Discovery Center, with an observation tower, stands near the start of Pipeline Road.

Pipeline Road, a gravel track through the rainforest of Soberanía, is one of the best-known birdwatching places in the Americas, with toucans, trogons, motmots and antbirds among hundreds of species. Howler monkeys, capuchins, sloths, agoutis and coatis live in the same forest. Boat trips on Gatún Lake and the Chagres River look for crocodiles and monkeys on small islands, and Emberá villages lie farther up the Chagres.

Meals are simple Panamanian fare: fried fish with patacones, rice and beans, and sancocho. Wildlife is most active in the early morning. The dry season runs from January to April, and the rainy season fills the rest of the year with heavy afternoon showers.