Picnicking in the jungle

By Lourdes Quijada

Panama’s only floating lodge, home of Jungle Land Explorers has raised the roof once again and this time not with the sound of happy campers, but literally.

Since I traveled with CanadaPLUS members in March of 2012 on the annual outing far from the madding crowd, the floating residence has added a floor, two large viewing areas carpeted with artificial grass giving the appearance of well kept putting greens. and four more bedrooms, each, like the existing eight, fitted with a private 

bathroom.

This year, on Sunday March 31, following a fun and games break with kayaks and an African Queen style trip down a leafy tropical tunnel to a hidden waterfall and beach or, for some a fishing expedition, came a barbecue lunch on a private island. Captain Carl (Davis) added an extra treat for the CanadaPLUS group, displaying his skills as a master of the barbecue.

The Chicken and vegetable brochette with juicy corn on the cob and salad was washed down with wine offerings and spiced with good conversation, with Panama International Film Festival founder, Henk Van Der Kolk and his wife Yanka giving us an insider’s viewpoint on the upcoming event.
All this a lead up to the main part of the tour as Carl took us around his domain pointing out fellow residents from young crocodile to turtles, toucans, sloths iguanas and, of course, monkeys who appeared on time to do their act and feed on the peanuts held by the passengers, prompting one of the group to ask Carl how long it had taken to train the monkeys.

At one location it seemed as if the loan monkey who appeared and hit the water as Carl called out “Pablo” was waiting for his cue.
Carl has an encyclopedic knowledge of the fauna and wild life around and in the lake which was created when the canal was built almost 100 years ago and he shared the information with his passengers.

His knowledge also expands to the building of the Panama railway and its tragedies, the history of the canal, and the work underway on the expansion as he points out dredgers, cranes and other equipment all the time enlivening his serious information with light hearted banter. It was surely a day to remember and worth raising the roof back at the lodge.

Carl has expanded his lake trip program for the srong of heart and limb who actually want to don boots and head out on a genuine jungle trek to unveil a microcosm of what it was like for the gold rush prospectors who trekked through the area in 1849, on their way to California.