Wednesday, December 29, 2021

29 December 2021: Gamboa Panama: Canopy Tram and Exotic Beasties

 


We signed up for the 10:30 Ariel Tram into the canopy.  First it was breakfast, then the bone jarring trip in the safari mobile to the tram.  We loaded into the tram me in the back and Leslie in the front.  There were other folks to load into their own cars so we went forward 50 feet and then stopped.  We swayed back and forth for about a minute and then went forward another 50 feet.  This repeated half a dozen times and  then we proceed almost to the  top.  At that point some other group must have shown up and we started and stopped a few more times.  At the top we walked a short trail to an observation tower.  The tower was one continuous ramp which is eminently easier than flight after flight of stairs.  We climbed higher and higher and my natural tendency to panic during life and death situations started to signal my brain.  I powered through until we reached  the top where there were 30 or so people crammed all together.  They were part of a tour and the tour guide was bombastic in his delivery so we took a selfie or two and went back down,  Feet on ground took care of my silly brain.  We rode back down and walked back via the animal sanctuary.  We were glad that we went this way because we saw an agouti which is a mix between a porcupine and a capybara.  The volunteers had also brought out a tree anteater and an Andean porcupine.  Both were very cool animals to get a chance to see.  



Santa Sloth


The green eyed monster


Riding that tram 


Up and down all day long, it is the life of a tram car


The cable is in the foreground and the background


More cool pink trunk trees


Long green roots on this fern


The jungle just swallows up the tram cars and towers


Nice red flowers


A large open space allows the cars and the towers to be seen


Palm bracts 


Looking out from the tram


A zip line station


The tower


Very tall


Looking out over the lake


The canal towards the Culebra Cut



Canal riders on the to of the tower


Looking down


The structure


Watch out for el Puma!


You can see the padding against the tree, not my idea of a good zipline


We are way up there


Cool markings on the exterior of the tree



Palm reproductive organs


Bark or lichen!


A agouti the hair is porcupine like



Nimble on the feet


The Andean Porcupine



Anteater butt


He was digging all the bark along the branch


Cutie!


He looks so patient waiting for some food