Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
El Real is the last sizable settlement before the national park. Those heading up to
Rancho Frío must either hire a local guide or be part of a tour - ANAM will not let you
proceed unescorted. Before your arrival, you must register with
SENAFRONT
(Servicio
Nacional de Fronteras; in Panama City 527-1000;
www.senafront.gob.pa
)
and ANAM Panama
City, where you can pay the entry fee (foreigners US$15).
Options are slim here and it's best to make food purchases prior to the hike. If you ar-
rive in town too late to start the trek to Rancho Frío, you can spend the night at a rustic
pensión
. At
Fonda Doña Lola
(meals US$3)
you can have a heaped plate of rice and
chicken.
Veteran boatman
Chicho Bristan
( 6539-2007, 299-6566)
offers charter trips between
Yaviza and El Real (US$70 for three passengers). Though the park cannot be accessed by
vehicle, Chicho can arrange a 4WD vehicle (US$30) to take you partway, leaving you in
Pirre 1, a 1½-hour hike to Rancho Frío.
Another way to Rancho Frío is to charter a boat (US$80 plus gasoline) up the Río
Pirre to Piji Baisal. From Piji Baisal, it's a one-hour hike to the station. A guide is indis-
pensable as there are no signs to mark the way.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Rancho Frío
Thirteen kilometers south of El Real, as the lemon-spectacled tanager flies, is the Rancho
Frío sector of Parque Nacional Darién. It's home to
Pirre Station
, or Pirre 2, not be con-
fused with the station at the top of Mount Pirre near Cana. Rare bird species represented
here include the crimson-bellied woodpecker, the white-fronted nunbird and the striped
woodhaunter. To steal a line from the famous naturalist guide Hernán Araúz, Rancho
Frío is 'Panama's foremost theater of life.'
The real strength of this sector is the excellent trail network. A two-day trail goes to
Mt Pirre ridge and a one-hour trail winds through thick jungle to a series of cascades.
Neither should be attempted without a guide as they are unmarked, and if you get lost out
here you're finished.
Visitors must get prior permission from SENAFRONT in Panama City and pay
ANAM
( 299-4495)
US$15. At Pirre Station, there are
barracks
(per person US$15)
with a front
room with fold-out cots for visitors, a small outdoor dining area beside a very basic kit-
chen, a
palapa
(open-sided shelter) with a few chairs and a number of flush toilets and
cold-water showers. There is also a shady
campsite
(per person US$6)
where you can
