Gamboa

Gamboa

Gamboa is a small town of Cristóbal in the Colón Province, near the Panama Canal and the Chagres River. It was one of the few permanent Canal Zone settlements built for Panama Canal employees and their dependents. Gamboa is considered a very popular destination for ecotourism. The town is situated at a sharp bend in the Chagres River, where it feeds Lake Gatun. To the south of the town, Lake Gatun and the Chagres meet at the Culebra Cut, where the Canal crosses the Continental Divide. So, although Gamboa is nearer to the Pacific side of Panama, its watershed is on the Atlantic side. The single-lane iron and wood bridge over the Chagres River was the only road access to Gamboa throughout the majority of its history. The area is home to caimans, crocodiles, iguanas and hundreds of bird species. Considering that Gamboa lies at the 'end of the road', with a single road linking it to the rest of the Canal Zone, it is adjacent to significant areas of fairly undisturbed rainforest. The path along the old pipeline is regarded as one of the best birding tours in Panama, and this is one of the top birdwatching sites in the whole of Central America. A large number of amateur birdwatchers join ornithologists at the annual bird counts held by the Audubon Society of Panama near Gamboa. Near the town runs the old Spanish colonial-era Las Cruces Trail, which used to transport precious metals and supplies between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, though some parts are now under water.