There are certain things you can travel around Panama hoping to see. A toucan. A sloth. A monkey. A spectacular waterfall. A brightly colored frog. Maybe, if the wildlife gods are feeling generous, even an ocelot. But there is one category of Panamanian wildlife that requires absolutely no luck whatsoever. In fact, if you spend enough time traveling around the country, you are going to see a cockroach. Probably several. And if you are staying in hostels, eating at local restaurants, hiking through humid forests, hanging around Caribbean islands and occasionally leaving your shoes outside overnight, you might as well accept your fate now.
The good news is that Panama has an absolutely fascinating diversity of cockroaches. A 2023 study from the University of Panama compiled 156 species belonging to 66 genera and eight families, while noting that cockroaches remain relatively poorly studied in the country. So when you see a cockroach sprinting across the hostel bathroom, you aren't necessarily looking at "just a cockroach." You could be encountering one of a remarkably large number of species that inhabit Panama's buildings, gardens, forests, leaf litter, trees and wetlands.
And this leads to an important distinction: not every cockroach in Panama is a disgusting apartment pest. Some are forest creatures that have absolutely no interest in living in your backpack. Others, unfortunately, are perfectly happy to accept your invitation.
For the backpacker, therefore, the question isn't really whether you will see a cockroach.
It's which one will be your first?
Welcome to the Cockroach Safari
Forget the traditional wildlife checklist for a moment.
You could create a Panama Traveler Cockroach Bingo Card.
American cockroach? Check.
German cockroach? Check.
Huge mysterious rainforest cockroach that appears to have been designed by a Hollywood monster department? Check.
Cockroach flying directly toward your face? Bonus points.
Cockroach appearing immediately after someone says, "Don't worry, there aren't any cockroaches here"? Full house.
Cockroach emerging from somewhere you absolutely did not want a cockroach to emerge from? Congratulations. You've unlocked the advanced level.
Panama is warm, humid and full of vegetation, which provides excellent conditions for cockroaches and countless other insects. The country's researchers have documented an enormous variety of species, including both human associated species and species living primarily outdoors.
In other words, Panama isn't merely a country with cockroaches.
Panama is a cockroach country.
The American Cockroach: The One That Makes You Question Your Life Choices
If there is one cockroach that deserves celebrity status among travelers in Panama, it is the American cockroach, Periplaneta americana.
Despite its name, it isn't originally from America. It is believed to have originated in Africa and the Middle East and subsequently spread around the world through human commerce.
And it is a big one.
Adults can reach around four centimeters in length, and their reddish brown bodies make them look less like an ordinary little kitchen insect and more like something that has been specifically engineered to make tourists scream.
They also have wings.
This is an important detail.
You may see one on the floor and think:
"Okay. I can deal with this."
Then it flies.
Suddenly your relationship with Panama changes.
The American cockroach is associated with warm, damp environments and can occur around drains, sewers, buildings and other humid areas. It is also among the common cockroach species encountered around homes and businesses in Panama.
For a backpacker, this means it can turn up in some wonderfully inappropriate locations.
Bathroom?
Absolutely.
Kitchen?
Naturally.
Outdoor shower?
Why not?
Hostel corridor at 1:00 a.m.?
Perfect.
Restaurant?
Unfortunately, possible.
Walking across the pavement outside your hostel?
That's practically a welcome committee.
The German Cockroach: Small, Fast and Extremely Unwelcome
If the American cockroach is the heavyweight, the German cockroach, Blattella germanica is the tiny speed demon.
It is much smaller, generally around 1.3 to 1.6 centimeters, and is typically light brown with two dark stripes behind the head.
And while its size may make it less visually terrifying, don't underestimate it.
German cockroaches are particularly associated with human buildings, especially warm and humid areas such as kitchens and bathrooms. The University of Panama's review lists Blattella germanica among the species considered synanthropic in Panama, meaning they are closely associated with human environments.
This is the cockroach you are more likely to encounter as a genuine indoor pest rather than a random jungle visitor.
And unlike the enormous American cockroach, the German cockroach doesn't need much space.
It can disappear into tiny cracks and hiding places.
Which means you may see one cockroach and think:
"That's weird."
Unfortunately, with an established infestation, one sighting may not mean there is only one.
That's when your traveler bingo game becomes less amusing and more of a maintenance issue.
The Australian Cockroach
Yes, Panama has an Australian cockroach, Periplaneta australasiae too.
The name alone is entertaining because it reinforces one of the great truths about cockroaches: they do not care about national borders.
The University of Panama's species review includes P. australasiae among the cockroaches associated with human environments in Panama.
It resembles some other large Periplaneta species, which means identifying a random fast moving cockroach at night isn't necessarily as easy as looking at it and immediately knowing its passport.
For the average traveler, therefore, this one belongs in the category:
"Large brown cockroach that I absolutely refuse to identify until after it has left the room."
The Brown Cockroach
Another species documented in Panama is Periplaneta brunnea, commonly known as the brown cockroach.
It is another relatively large cockroach associated with human environments, and it is included among Panama's synanthropic species in the University of Panama's review.
This creates a problem for the amateur cockroach spotter.
You might see a large brown cockroach.
You might proudly announce:
"American cockroach!"
And there is a reasonable possibility that you have just confidently misidentified your dinner companion.
Welcome to entomology.
The Surinam Cockroach: A Different Kind of Guest
One of the particularly interesting species documented in Panama is Pycnoscelus surinamensis, commonly called the Surinam cockroach.
The University of Panama's research categorizes it as peridomiciliary, meaning it is associated with areas around human dwellings rather than being primarily dependent on living inside them.
This is a useful distinction for travelers.
Not every cockroach you encounter around a hostel is trying to move into your dorm.
Some species naturally inhabit the outdoor environment and simply happen to share the neighborhood with humans.
They may live around vegetation, soil, leaf litter and damp areas, then occasionally wander somewhere that humans happen to occupy.
Basically:
You didn't invite them.
They just don't recognize property boundaries.
Blaberus: The Jungle-Sized Experience
Then you start getting into the cockroaches that make people realize there is a massive difference between "cockroach in my kitchen" and "cockroach that belongs in a rainforest."
The genus Blaberus includes large Neotropical cockroaches, and Blaberus discoidalis is among the species listed in Panama's research as peridomiciliary.
Encountering a large forest cockroach can be an entirely different experience from finding a German cockroach in a kitchen.
Some wild cockroaches are genuinely impressive insects. They can be large, beautifully patterned and surprisingly interesting once you stop thinking of them purely as pests.
This is where your bingo card starts becoming a legitimate wildlife checklist.
Panama's Forest Cockroaches Are Everywhere You Aren't Looking
The fascinating thing about Panama's cockroach diversity is that the majority of these insects aren't sitting around waiting for a backpacker to scream.
They live in the forest.
Historical Smithsonian research on cockroaches describes them occupying an extraordinary variety of outdoor microhabitats, including rotten wood, beneath bark, tree cavities, foliage, vines, bromeliads, leaf litter, decaying fruit, rocks, marshes, swamps and other organic material.
That means a rainforest is essentially filled with tiny cockroach neighborhoods.
Some live under bark.
Some live in rotting wood.
Some inhabit leaf litter.
Some associate with plants.
Some occur around bromeliads and other vegetation.
Others live around human structures.
And some are so specialized that most travelers will never encounter them.
So when you walk through a Panamanian jungle and see one enormous cockroach scurrying across the trail, it isn't necessarily a sign that the forest is dirty.
Quite the opposite.
You're looking at an animal that belongs there.
The Cockroach That Flies
There is a special category on the bingo card.
FLYING COCKROACH.
This should be worth five points.
Because there is something psychologically different about a cockroach that stays on the floor and one that suddenly decides the floor isn't good enough.
A flying cockroach transforms a simple encounter into an aviation event.
You may have been peacefully sitting outside.
You may have been drinking a beer.
You may have been talking to someone.
Then suddenly:
WHIRRRRRR.
Everyone moves.
Nobody knows where it went.
Someone checks their shirt.
Someone checks their hair.
Someone else announces that they're going inside.
The cockroach has won.
Large species such as the American cockroach have wings and can fly, although their flight behavior varies.
For the purposes of traveler bingo, however, the scientific distinction is irrelevant.
If it took off unexpectedly, you get the point.
Why Panama Is So Good for Cockroach Watching
There is a simple formula here.
Warmth + humidity + vegetation + food + water = excellent cockroach conditions.
Panama has all of these.
The country has tropical lowlands, enormous rainforest areas, wetlands, mountains, agricultural landscapes, cities and countless human settlements surrounded by vegetation.
That gives cockroaches an enormous variety of habitats.
And because many species are nocturnal, your chances of seeing them can increase dramatically after dark.
This is another reason that backpackers staying in hostels may encounter more interesting insects than they would at home.
You're walking around at night.
You're opening doors repeatedly.
You're hiking through vegetation.
You're eating outside.
You're sitting under lights.
You're staying in buildings surrounded by forest.
You are essentially participating in an enormous, involuntary insect observation program.
The Hostel Bingo Card
If you are traveling through Panama, you should genuinely make a ridiculous little wildlife bingo card.
Call it:
THE PANAMA BACKPACKER COCKROACH BINGO
☐ Tiny German cockroach
☐ Huge reddish brown cockroach
☐ Cockroach in the bathroom
☐ Cockroach in the kitchen
☐ Cockroach outside
☐ Cockroach running across the hostel floor
☐ Cockroach appearing after midnight
☐ Cockroach flying
☐ Cockroach disappearing under furniture
☐ Cockroach encountered during a jungle hike
☐ Giant rainforest cockroach
☐ Cockroach that makes the entire dorm scream
☐ Someone killing a cockroach while everyone watches
☐ Someone confidently identifies it incorrectly
☐ Someone says "That's the biggest cockroach I've ever seen"
☐ Someone takes a photograph instead of killing it
☐ Someone refuses to sleep because they saw one
☐ Cockroach appears immediately after someone says there aren't any
☐ BLACKOUT: You have officially traveled through Panama
You could even make categories.
City Cockroach
Beach Cockroach
Jungle Cockroach
Hostel Cockroach
Restaurant Cockroach
Flying Cockroach
Monster Cockroach
And the ultimate achievement:
Cockroach Encounter While Wearing Flip Flops
That's when you know you're backpacking properly.
But Cockroaches Aren't All Bad
This is where the story gets more interesting.
Cockroaches have an unfair reputation because a handful of species have adapted extremely well to human environments.
But the vast majority of cockroaches aren't trying to invade your kitchen.
Wild cockroaches are part of forest ecosystems and can contribute to decomposition and nutrient cycling. They consume decaying organic material and participate in the complicated process by which dead plant and animal matter becomes available again within an ecosystem.
The forest floor is full of dead leaves, fallen wood, decaying fruit and other organic material.
Something has to process all of it.
Cockroaches are among the many organisms that help make that happen.
So when you see a cockroach in the jungle, there is a decent argument that you're looking at one of the forest's cleanup crew.
You just probably don't want the cleanup crew in your dorm.
The Difference Between Jungle Cockroaches and Household Cockroaches
This distinction is particularly important in Panama.
A giant cockroach wandering across a jungle trail isn't automatically evidence of a dirty hostel.
Likewise, finding an occasional large outdoor cockroach near a building isn't necessarily evidence of an infestation.
Some species naturally live outside and occasionally enter buildings.
The more concerning situation is repeated sightings of species that are strongly associated with indoor environments, particularly in kitchens and food preparation areas.
The University of Panama's research specifically distinguishes between species that are synanthropic and those considered peridomiciliary.
So if you find one enormous cockroach outside your cabin in the middle of a tropical forest, you may simply have had a wildlife encounter.
If you're finding dozens of tiny cockroaches inside the kitchen every night, that's an entirely different conversation.
The Real Panama Experience
There is something funny about the way cockroaches become part of the travel experience.
Before you arrive in Panama, you might imagine the memorable moments being the Panama Canal, Caribbean islands, waterfalls, jungle hikes and sunsets.
And those things absolutely are memorable.
But then you travel for a few weeks and discover that the little things become stories too.
The bus that was two hours late.
The enormous moth outside your room.
The frog sitting in the shower.
The gecko eating something above your bed.
And, inevitably:
The Cockroach Incident.
Every traveler eventually has one.
Someone will tell you about theirs.
You'll tell someone about yours.
Ten years later, you'll probably remember the exact hostel, the exact room and the exact person who reacted the most dramatically.
Your Final Goal: Complete the Collection
So here's the challenge.
Don't spend your entire trip terrified of insects.
Instead, embrace the ridiculousness of it.
You are traveling through one of the most biologically diverse tropical countries in the world. Panama's researchers have documented 156 cockroach species in their national review, and that number tells you something important: the cockroach you see isn't necessarily the same kind that somebody else saw on the other side of the country.
Your mission is therefore simple.
See the Canal.
Swim in the Caribbean.
Climb a waterfall.
Walk through the rainforest.
Watch monkeys.
Find a toucan.
And somewhere along the way...
Find your cockroach.
Then find another.
And another.
Eventually you'll become the person in your hostel who sees a large brown insect running across the floor and calmly says:
"Hmm. Interesting. Probably Periplaneta."
Everyone else will move away from you.
That's fine.
You've evolved.
The Panama Traveler's Final Cockroach Rule
You can leave Panama without seeing a jaguar.
You can leave without seeing an ocelot.
You can leave without seeing a margay.
You can even leave without seeing a sloth if the wildlife gods are particularly cruel.
But a cockroach?
You're probably not getting out that easily.
So you might as well make it fun.
Get your bingo card ready.
And remember: *if one flies directly at you, that's not a failure of the trip. That's a bonus square.*