Coiba National Park, Panama
After few days of visiting the wonders of Costa Rica, we embark upon the Panamanian portion of this trip by visiting one of the jewels of Panama: Coiba National Park.
With an extension of 675,000 acres, of which 80 % is water, this park and marine reserve contains the second largest coral reef in the eastern pacific and a list of at least 69 species of fish. The National Park also counts with 17 species of reptiles of which 15 are snakes, around 147 species of birds including the scarlet macaw and the endemic Coiba spinetail, and few species of mammals that includes subspecies of howler monkey (Alouatta palliata coibensis) and Agoutis (Dasyprocta coiba).
We spend time relaxing at the beach of Granito de Oro (little grain of gold), kayaking and snorkeling among the marine life of Coiba. Some of the resident fish of Coiba we can mention are the fine spotted morays, white tip reef sharks, reef cornetfish, king angel fish, Moorish idols and as if those were not enough we also were able to see green and hawksbill sea turtles.
Coiba Island used to be a penal colony and today it is one of the many national parks Panama counts with. The main goal of the park system is an ambitious plan of tourism and nature preservation for the advantage of nature itself and the inhabitants of the buffer zones around the marine and terrestrial national parks. As a Panamanian naturalist, the fact that a former penal colony is the object of such an ambitious plan just makes me proud.
After few days of visiting the wonders of Costa Rica, we embark upon the Panamanian portion of this trip by visiting one of the jewels of Panama: Coiba National Park.
With an extension of 675,000 acres, of which 80 % is water, this park and marine reserve contains the second largest coral reef in the eastern pacific and a list of at least 69 species of fish. The National Park also counts with 17 species of reptiles of which 15 are snakes, around 147 species of birds including the scarlet macaw and the endemic Coiba spinetail, and few species of mammals that includes subspecies of howler monkey (Alouatta palliata coibensis) and Agoutis (Dasyprocta coiba).
We spend time relaxing at the beach of Granito de Oro (little grain of gold), kayaking and snorkeling among the marine life of Coiba. Some of the resident fish of Coiba we can mention are the fine spotted morays, white tip reef sharks, reef cornetfish, king angel fish, Moorish idols and as if those were not enough we also were able to see green and hawksbill sea turtles.
Coiba Island used to be a penal colony and today it is one of the many national parks Panama counts with. The main goal of the park system is an ambitious plan of tourism and nature preservation for the advantage of nature itself and the inhabitants of the buffer zones around the marine and terrestrial national parks. As a Panamanian naturalist, the fact that a former penal colony is the object of such an ambitious plan just makes me proud.
