Panama is one of those countries where you can walk out of a hostel in the morning and have absolutely no idea what you are going to see. A sloth might be hanging above the trail, a toucan could fly across the road, monkeys might be calling from somewhere in the canopy and a tiny frog could be hiding underneath a leaf. Then you can get on a boat and, within a few hours, be looking for dolphins, sea turtles, rays or sharks. For a relatively small country, Panama has an almost ridiculous amount of wildlife packed into its forests, mountains, islands, rivers and two coastlines. The Smithsonian describes Panama as having exceptionally high biodiversity, with its tropical ecosystems supporting an extraordinary number of species.
What makes Panama particularly exciting for travelers is that wildlife isn't confined to one enormous safari park. You don't necessarily need to spend thousands of dollars on an organized expedition. Some of the best encounters can happen while hiking a normal trail, sitting quietly near a river, walking through a national park or simply looking up into the trees. The trick is understanding where to go and, just as importantly, slowing down enough to actually see what is around you.
Panama City Has Wildlife Hiding in Its Backyard
One of the biggest surprises for first time visitors is that you don't even have to leave Panama City to start looking for wildlife. The Metropolitan Natural Park sits remarkably close to the city center and protects tropical forest right in the middle of the capital. It contains hundreds of bird species and dozens of mammal, reptile and amphibian species. Its trails are a particularly easy introduction to Panama's wildlife for backpackers arriving in the country.
Walk quietly and look into the canopy rather than simply staring at the trail. Squirrel monkeys, sloths, toucans, motmots, woodpeckers, tanagers and numerous other birds can be found here. The extraordinary thing is that you can spend the morning looking for wildlife in tropical forest and be eating lunch surrounded by skyscrapers later the same day.
It is one of those experiences that immediately demonstrates how unusual Panama is. The jungle isn't necessarily somewhere far away. In Panama City, it is practically part of the city itself.
Soberanía: Enter the Rainforest
If you want to take things up several levels, head toward Soberanía National Park. It is only around 30 to 40 minutes from Panama City, yet once you enter the forest it feels dramatically more remote. The park protects a huge area of tropical forest and is home to monkeys, sloths, reptiles, mammals and an enormous variety of birds.
For bird lovers, the legendary Pipeline Road is one of the places you should know about. The route has recorded an extraordinary 357 bird species during a single 24 hour period, including toucans, trogons, motmots, woodpeckers, hawks and tanagers.
You don't have to be a serious birdwatcher to appreciate it. Once you start noticing birds, the forest changes. Instead of seeing a wall of green, you begin seeing flashes of yellow, red, blue and turquoise moving through it.
And then there are the mammals. Monkeys can announce themselves from high in the canopy before you ever see them. Sloths can be surprisingly difficult to spot despite their size because they blend into the trees. The forest is full of movement, but much of it happens above your head.
Fortuna: Wildlife in the Cloud Forest
Further west, the environment changes completely. Around Fortuna and the mountains of Chiriquí, the warm lowland rainforest gives way to cooler, wetter cloud forest. This is where hiking becomes particularly rewarding for travelers who enjoy discovering smaller creatures.
The cloud forest is dripping with life. Moss covers branches, bromeliads grow high in the trees and orchids appear in places you might never expect them. The humidity creates ideal conditions for frogs, insects and other small creatures.
This is also where a night walk becomes one of the best wildlife experiences you can have. After sunset, the forest changes personality. Frogs begin calling, insects become active and nocturnal animals emerge. A guided night walk can reveal creatures that you would almost certainly miss during the day.
At Lost and Found Hostel, travelers can join a guided night walk for around $10, making it an unusually inexpensive way to explore the forest after dark. The guide can help locate creatures hiding in the vegetation, while the group moves slowly through the darkness with flashlights. One minute you are staring at an ordinary leaf and the next you discover a frog, spider or strange insect sitting almost perfectly camouflaged within it.
The beauty of a night safari is the uncertainty. You don't know what you are going to find. You simply walk into the darkness and let the forest reveal itself.
Coiba: Where Wildlife Gets Serious
Then there is Coiba.
If Panama's forests are impressive, the waters surrounding Coiba take the wildlife experience into another category. Coiba National Park protects a huge combination of islands, forests, mangroves, reefs and marine ecosystems and is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its isolation helped preserve an extraordinary concentration of biodiversity.
Underwater is where things become spectacular. Divers and snorkelers can encounter rays, turtles, sharks, enormous schools of fish and other marine life. The park protects one of the most important coral reef systems in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, while the surrounding waters are also important habitat for larger marine species.
On land, Coiba has its own collection of wildlife that makes the island particularly fascinating. There are endemic animals found nowhere else, including the Coiba Island howler monkey. The island is also home to crocodiles, iguanas and important populations of birds, including scarlet macaws.
This is why Coiba sometimes gets compared with the Galápagos. It isn't simply another tropical island. Its long isolation allowed wildlife to develop in distinctive ways, creating an ecosystem unlike almost anywhere else in Panama.
The Pacific Coast Is a Wildlife Highway
The waters around the Gulf of Chiriquí are another incredible place to look for marine life. Around the Pacific islands, travelers can encounter dolphins, turtles, rays and huge schools of fish, while seasonal whale watching can become one of the great experiences of a Panama trip. Humpback whales are particularly associated with the Pacific waters during their seasonal presence.
This is one reason Santa Catalina is such an important base for adventurous travelers. You can spend one day surfing, another diving or snorkeling and another heading offshore toward Coiba.
The best part is that the experience changes depending on what is happening in the ocean. You might leave expecting a normal snorkeling trip and suddenly encounter a huge school of fish or a ray gliding beneath you. Wildlife has no obligation to follow your itinerary.
Bocas del Toro: Wildlife Above and Below the Water
Then travel across Panama to Bocas del Toro and the Caribbean gives you another completely different ecosystem.
The islands are surrounded by warm Caribbean water, coral reefs, mangroves and jungle. You can explore by boat, kayak or snorkel and encounter a mixture of marine and terrestrial wildlife. Mangroves are particularly fascinating because they form an ecosystem between land and sea. Fish move through the roots, birds hunt along the shoreline and juvenile marine animals use the protected waters as nurseries.
The forests of the islands offer another opportunity to search for sloths, monkeys, frogs and tropical birds. And because many places are accessible by boat rather than road, the journey itself becomes part of the wildlife experience.
Look Up
One of the most useful pieces of advice for seeing wildlife in Panama is incredibly simple: look up.
Backpackers often stare at the ground while hiking because they're watching their footing. But Panama's canopy is where much of the action is happening.
Monkeys can be thirty metres above you. Toucans may sit on branches far overhead. Sloths can be almost invisible among leaves. Birds may reveal themselves only when they suddenly fly between trees.
Stop occasionally.
Stand still.
Listen.
Give your eyes time to adjust.
The longer you remain in one place, the more the forest begins to reveal itself.
Don't Forget the Tiny Animals
Panama's wildlife isn't just monkeys, sloths and crocodiles. Some of the most fascinating creatures are the ones that barely get noticed.
Leaf insects can look exactly like vegetation. Stick insects can disappear against branches. Brightly colored frogs can sit beneath leaves. Huge beetles can emerge at night. Spiders build elaborate webs between trees. The tropical forest is full of creatures that seem almost invented.
This is one reason night walks are so rewarding. Darkness removes the visual clutter and forces you to concentrate on small details. A flashlight suddenly turns a tiny section of forest into an entire world.
The Best Wildlife Experience May Be the Unexpected One
You can plan your entire trip around seeing a particular animal and still miss it.
Then, on an ordinary walk, you might suddenly encounter something spectacular.
A sloth hanging beside a trail.
A troop of monkeys crossing above you.
A toucan sitting on a roadside tree.
A crocodile lying motionless beside a river.
A hummingbird hovering inches away.
A turtle surfacing beside your boat.
A whale appearing in the distance.
Those moments are often more memorable because they weren't guaranteed.
That is what makes backpacking through Panama so rewarding for wildlife lovers. The country gives you plenty of places where you can deliberately go looking for animals, but it also creates countless opportunities for completely spontaneous encounters.
From the Metropolitan Natural Park in the middle of Panama City, to the bird filled forests of Soberanía, the mysterious cloud forests around Fortuna, the marine wilderness of Coiba, the Pacific waters around Santa Catalina, and the jungle covered islands of Bocas del Toro, you can build an entire backpacking trip around wildlife without ever feeling like you are following the same experience twice.
And perhaps that is the greatest thing about wildlife in Panama.
You don't have to go on safari to find it.
Sometimes you just need to walk slowly, look into the trees and remember that the forest was already watching you long before you noticed it.