Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
violations, including murders and kidnappings, during their long war
with the Colombian government.
According to one internet blogger who survived the Darién, it is
a forbidding mountainous jungle on the Panama side; full of
swamps, guerrillas, drug traffickers and kidnappers on the
Colombian side, making travel through the area not just a strug-
gle against a hostile environment but also a maze of bribing the
right people for passage and ducking bullets.
The dangers to be faced there include 'tough nasty jungle with
plenty of disagreeable wildlife; impenetrable swamps; crazed drug
traffickers; pissed-off guerrillas; greedy kidnappers (all of the guys
mentioned above); paranoid government police; no marked trails'.
National Geographic Adventure
contributing editor Robert Young Pel-
ton, who with two backpackers was held captive by guerrillas for ten
days in 2003, adds his two bobs' worth:
