The Embera

The majority of the Embera continue to live a traditional lifestyle, but they also welcome visitors. They are not as well known as some Native american groups in Panama as they have traditionally lived in the dee[p rain forest of the eastern Darien province, but that is beginning to change. Parara Puru is a small village of Embera on the Chagres River ab out an hour from Panama City that welcomes tours from the outside.

Depending on which village you choose to visit you will meet Anne, a US citizen with a 20 year career as an animal trainer in film and TV. She met her husband while working on a films in the jungles of Panama, and is now married to a member of the village.

The Embera is one of seven recognized tribes in Panama. They first migrated from Colombia to Panama's Darien region. Then over the last quarter-century some of these families established villages on the Chagres River.
Normally you will arrive in the village by canoe and are greeted by music and kids. Embera Puru has about 100 inhabitants, 15 or so thatched roof huts, a gigantic "town hall" and a small "guest houe" for visitors. You are allowed to wander around on your own during your visit, you will also hear about their history and culture. Then lunch over an open pit fire which is served in banana leaf "plates." You also enjoy a trip into the jungle to hear about medicinal plants, just the Shaman and what nature provides. Ladies attend basket weaving which they are so famous for.
They explain that crafts are priced at $1 for each day it took to make the item. They also dance and play music.

If you want to visit the Darien province itself, it is for the cautions adventurer. There are no hospitals, clinics or pharmacies. You need to make arrangements to go with a guide as danger ebbs and flows in the Darien. These people made their way from Colombia in 1830 and are proficient hunters using poison dart blowguns. They are renown for making canoes so stable that the Panama Canal Authoirty buys them for transportation to up-river areas. Women are considered among the world's best basket makers.

The Darien National Park is one of Panama's jewels with 576,000 hectares of rain forest rich in wildlife.

Panama's Tropical Paradise a "hub of biodiversity"

(CNN) A hotbed of biodiversity, Panama's tropical habitats are home to some of the most diverse and exotic species of plants and animals on Earth.

Covering almost half the century's land surface are immense tracks of rain forests, mangrove wetlands and mountain clouds. Even the country's cosmopolitan capital of Panama City boasts a forest within its city boundaries - one of the last tropical forests in Central America.

In all, the country houses over 10,444 different types of plant species including 1,200 orchid varieties, 678 fern species and 1,500 varieties of trees. As well as 255 species of mammals and 972 indigenous bird species, according to the National Society for the Protection of Nature, Panama.

The reason for such ecological abundance is the country's prime geographical position. Dividing the Pacific Ocean from the Caribbean Sea, the country serves as a "biological corridor," connecting both North and Central America. This, makes Panama a "hub of biodiversity." "The Isthmus of Panama and Central America arose over three million years ago through volcanic activity and has served as a bridge ever since - allowing land and freshwater species to migrate from north to south and vice versa."

The most famous part of this "corridor" is the Darien Region. Forming the easternmost part of Panama and boarding Colombia, the almost impenetrable wilderness of the Darien Region is perhaps most famous as a hiding ground for guerrillas, narcotics traffickers and paramilitary forces. But despite the negative connotations, it is one of the most biodiverse areas in the entire world." Due to its remote location and lack of infrastructure, the area has remained a haven for countless species, home to haguars, giant anteaters, harpy eagles and American crocodiles as well as sheltering various tribes of remote indigenous groups.

It is a constant battle to keep developers at bay. The region is definitely one of the most inaccessible areas of the country, but there is always talk about opening it up and constructing a road through it. What science and research has clearly indicated is that as soon as you cut a road through any fires it unfolds a chain of deforestation. Colonizers come in and extractive industries start to com in. The Panamanian government says it plans to keep the Darien Gap closed.

But not all areas remain safe. Various mining companies have announced future drilling operations in the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, while the authorities plan to build the "Gran Costanera," a new road along the Caribbean cost - most of which is still forested.