Coiba National Park in Panama

There are only a few places left on earth where nature is left to unattended and the plants and animals live in a world of their own with minimum or no human intervention at all. It is at these places that you can catch glimpses of nature at its best in addition to a wide variety of plants and animals that you never knew existed till now.

Welcome to the island of Coiba in Central America. Situated near the Pacific coast in Panama, the island is home to the Coiba National Park and is a wildlife haven. The island branched off from  mainland Panama many years ago and has since then thrived on its own with warm waters and beaches carefully guarded by the largest coral reef along the entire Pacific Coast.

Coiba National Park which sits on the island was officially opened in 1992 after which UNESCO declared it to be World Heritage Site in 2005. With 80% of the natural habitat remaining intact, the island has been the center for discovering a lot of new species of animal and plant life.

How to get there: If you are planning on visiting Coiba, take a flight that lands at Santiago after which you need to travel on road to Puerto Mutis. Once there, you can reach the island via a boat ride that ranges from 2 hours by speed boats to 6 hours by ordinary vessels.

A point to be noted is that the island of Coiba is a biologically reserved area. Hence you need to get permits from the Ministry of Government and Justice and the National Environment Authority in Panama in order to enter the island.

Sites on the island: The ANAM ranger station is situated on the Northern shore of the island which is more visitors accessible due to its clear waters and sandy beaches. The islands of Las Canales and Rancheria are also nearby which enables tourists to go on surfing expeditions to the islands in addition to other activities that include snorkeling, whale watching and surfing.

The southern end of the island is more isolated and is hard to access. Visitors who stay in the nearby island of Santa Catalina frequent the beaches for wind surfing in addition to visits to the island of Jicaron.

Plant Life: With the island being relatively untouched by civilization, the trees and plants of Coiba National Park are at their will to grow and expand their roots. The island is home to some very rare species of plants and trees that have long disappeared from other parts of the world due to deforestation and other activities. Some of these plants can be found only in Coiba.

Animal Life: Scientists have for long wondered how an island of Coiba which is situated very close to the United States could have grown so much in terms of diversity and remoteness. The island houses animals that are believed to be extinct in other parts of the world. These include the Coiba Island Howler Monkey and the Coiba Agouti in addition to a variety of possums, monkeys, and the white tailed deer. The island is also home to about 30 different species of bats that take refuge in the hills on the northern shore of the island.

Bird Watching: Coiba is a haven for birds and you will most likely spot some nearly extinct species here. One of them is the Guacamaya which can be found in large numbers throughout the park. You can also spot among others, the scarlet macaw, the Coiba Spinetail and the crested Eagle. There are more birds to watch as you move further into the island. The park officials estimate a total of 147 species of birds that are divided between the island and Coiba National Park but visit both.

Marine Life: The marine life in Coiba is dense and diverse. The waters surrounding the island and its nearby regions are calm with little disturbances and offer a suitable environment for a variety of sea animals to breed.

Some of the sea creatures that can be found in Coiba include dolphins of the spinner and spotted variety, pilot, sperm and humpback whales, sting rays, marlins, sailfishes, hammer head and tiger sharks, orcas and yellow tuna. Most of these creatures can never be found anywhere else around America let alone the world.

In the months of April and May, the shores of Coiba and its surrounding islands are frequented by turtles that come to nest on the beaches. The island offers an abode to four different species of turtles including the olive, the hawksbill, the loggerhead and the leatherback varieties.

Visit Coiba today and be transported into a world so unlike our very own. Get close to unspoiled natural habitats and beaches, enjoy watching the rare birds fly freely overhead, watch as animals you never knew existed before move through the jungle without the fear of being hunted down and come to terms with how wonderful life can be if we could just preserve what we have and live together in harmony.