Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Parque Internacional La Amistad
Divided equally between Panama and Costa Rica, the remote Parque Internacional La
Amistad (International Friendship Park), often abbreviated to PILA or Amistad, covers a
vast 4000 square kilometres of the rugged Talamanca massif, with a topography and biod-
iversity unmatched in Central America. Precipitous volcanic tors clad in prolific cloud forest,
containing the greatest density of quetzals in the world, plunge into deep ravines, providing
Panama's most dramatic mountain scenery.
From the treeless páramo of Cerro Fábrega (3336m), the park's highest peak, to the Carib-
bean rainforests only 40m above sea level, the park encompasses an incredible range of flora
and fauna , including many endemics and endangered species. All five of Panama's resid-
ent cat species prowl the forests while the soaring canopy contains impressive specimens of
ceiba, almendro and cedar, home to endangered harpy and crested eagles and great green
macaws. A crucial link in the “biological corridor” of protected areas running the length of
Central America, it is now under threat from agricultural incursions, illicit timber extraction
and poaching, but most of all from the ill-considered hydroelectric projects under way. As
well as imperilling the area's unique biodiversity, the projects are threatening numerous indi-
genous communities.
Given the park's remoteness and the ruggedness of the terrain, any visit to Amistad proper
is a major undertaking, to be made with a good guide, suitable hiking and camping gear, a
readiness for rain (over 5m tip down annually in places), and therefore mud, plus a spirit of
adventure. Most visitors content themselves with a trip organized through one of the Naso
communities dotted along the banks of the Río Teribe, in the buffer zone of the Reserva
Forestal de Palo Seco , a haven for colourful butterflies, dazzling birdlife, and a host of other
wildlife.
The Naso villages
The Naso , boasting Central America's last remaining monarch, are one of the country's
least numerous indigenous groups, whose recently history has been particularly troubled.
As well as inhabiting the park, they also live on the San San and Yorkin rivers and around
Changuinola, where, seeking further schooling and employment, many have abandoned their
traditional lifestyles. Those that have remained generally inhabit wooden houses built on
stilts covered in thatch or occasionally zinc, practising animal husbandry and subsistence ag-
riculture supplemented by fishing and hunting. Though the spiritual heart of the Naso lies in
their ancestral lands high up the headlands of the Teribe, the present-day capital is Sieyik , the
largest Naso community, its five hundred inhabitants dispersed over a pleasant hillside over-
looking the river, around ninety minutes upriver from Changuinola. In the grassy clearing at
the centre of the village stand a medical centre, primary school and the unremarkable royal
palace .
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