Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
sePtember 21
Three days into Panama and two to go. The Darién approaches and
takes up all my thoughts, but I am running well and am ahead of
schedule. I have to be at the entrance to the Darién Gap on September
23, so have cut my daily run back to 70 kilometres for the past two
days so I don't arrive early. I will set off into the jungle on September
24, with an armed guard, Juan the cameraman, a couple of locals to
carry the gear, and a Red Cross official. We will all be on foot as there
are no roads. I haven't a clue how far I'll be able to run each day in the
144- kilo metre- long, 50- kilo metre- wide gap of undeveloped thick and
forbidding rainforest, which has no roads, just vine-entangled tracks.
No doubt I'll be travelling only as fast as the slowest member of the
group. I'm hoping to be able to make it through in four days, covering
36 kilometres a day, but that is in the lap of the gods.
Most inhabitants of the Darién, that I know of, at least, are local
Indians. More worrying are the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC), which have committed a number of human rights
Pan
ama
is a c
ount
ry of
jungl
es an
d riv
ers.
