Receive a morning pickup from select Panama City hotels, after which you’ll transfer to the town of Gamboa to meet up with your boat guide, captain and vessel alongside the Panama Canal.
Cruise the waters of this world-famous waterway aboard a well-equipped covered boat, passing alongside cargo ships heading to and from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Your eventual destination is Gatun Lake, where you’ll have time to investigate the numerous islands and rich wildlife that populates its shores. Make a stop while on the lake at the Monkey Islands, allowing you to observe local howlers, capuchins, and tamarins. You’re also likely to encounter a rich collection of tropical birdlife, plus capybaras, iguanas, crocodiles, and many more creatures.
At the end of your boat ride, travel to the nearby Chagres National Park for your indigenous village encounter. You’ll eventually reach Puerto Corotu, a city along Lake Alajuela, where a local group of the Embera tribe will be waiting to transport you to their village aboard a dugout canoe.
You’ll then be served a simple lunch of plantains, fried fish, and fruit by your hosts, and have time to purchase authentic indigenous handicrafts or get a temporary tattoo created by an Embera artist. Then hop back in your canoe and for the return trip to Panama City, where you’ll be dropped off at your hotel.
