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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Birding Gamboa - public transport or rental car? (1 Viewer)

You can drive in to around the Rainforest Discovery Centre (and maybe a few hundred metres further). I think after that there's a locked gate and access by vehicle is more restricted.

Thank you. So it will be a long hike all the way up Pipeline Road...

Our group arrives in PC late at night and we want to drive straight to Gamboa. Is it safe? Some travel websites recommend not to drive in Panama at night.
 
Our group arrives in PC late at night and we want to drive straight to Gamboa. Is it safe? Some travel websites recommend not to drive in Panama at night.

How used are you to driving where people may do alternative driving? I am, and I did prefer that travel in daylight. Roads are narrow and winding, and other drivers may not have that much light. This is the hotel we stayed in at the airport: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re...asino_Resort-Panama_City_Panama_Province.html (I think it was cheaper to book directly at their own website back then)

Niels
 
Thank you. So it will be a long hike all the way up Pipeline Road...

It's a long walk if you want to go all the way but the whole road is great for birds (including the bit you can drive along). You will probably be seeing too many good birds to be able to walk really long distances.
 
You can drive in to around the Rainforest Discovery Centre (and maybe a few hundred metres further). I think after that there's a locked gate and access by vehicle is more restricted.

Here is a picture of the gate Andrew mentions and one of the many small bridges several kilometers down Pipeline Road. If you get that far by walking, you are probably walking too fast and missing too much. Remember, just walking to the beginning of Pipeline Road is a bit of a hike but a very birdy one. If you include the Panama Rainforest Discovery Center and its trails, feeders and tower, you've easily done a long morning's birding.

Steve
 

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BTW the key for the padlock on that 2nd gate on Pipeline road can be obtained - Somewhere I have the contacts of how to get it but it's not to hand. However the 'typical' birder is probably going to have difficulty getting it. Not that it matters anyway, if you park at that gate and walk you are in prime birding habitat anyway.
Also I thought driving in Panama was relatively easy; the Airport to Gamboa road is good - only one significant incident in the north where 2 motorcycle cops pulled me over looking for a bribe - they didn't get a penny.
 
Niels I guess everything is relative. I found the run from the airport to Gamboa easy, except the maps I had were poor and I had to double check directions (IMO screen shots from google maps are probably currently the best maps for this area - and for many other places).
 
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