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Chagres Package

Introduction

The Chagres River is the most important river of Panama because it is the main water supply of the Panama Canal. With out it there wouldn´t be worldwide trade as we know it. With every ship that passes by the Panama Canal 52,000,000 galons of fresh water obtained mainly from the Chagres Watershed is released to the oceans.

Due to Chagres Watershet importance the Panamanian Government declared it as a protected area creating The Chagres National Park in 1984.

The park is characterized by tropical rainforest and in our trek we would go from premountain tropical forest to mangro systems by the Atlantic Ocean.

The Chagres has been dam twice. In 1912 with Gatun Dam to form Gatun lake, the biggest artificial lake of its time which is today the main water body of the Panama Canal. And in 1930 it was dam againg in a higher elevation with Madden Dam to form Madden Lake, a water reservoir used to keep Gatun Lake water level up during the dry season.

In the last treck of our journey, we will float from Gatun Dawn to the Atlantic Ocean crossing a area which has been protected since the North American took over this territory to establish military bases. It was USA military training ground for jungle combat and today it is a ecological paradise.

This same treck was used by adventurous Pirate Henry Morgan back in 1671 to strike by surprise Panama City, by the Pacific Ocean. His people traveled by boat upstream as far as they could and then continued on foot to find a defenseless city whose canyions and all defense system was prepared to repel attacks from the Pacific Ocean.

After Morgan´s attack the Spaniard Conquistadores built Fort San Lorenzo with an amazing battery of canyons, strategically located, at the mouth of the Chagres River, to seal its entrance from further enemy incursions from the Atlantic Ocean.

Description

The first part of our journey would be exactly the same as described on The Regular Chagres Challenge with an overnight at our camp for those that can start the tour before 10:00 a.m. For later starters we would spend the first night at the mountains in Cabins 4x4, and then the second night at our camp.

On the next day we would reach an Embera Indian Village where we would have lunch and then visit The Natural Bridge. This day you can choose to sleep at the hut of your choice or at the luxury of a five star hotel in Panama City.

On the last day we would visit Gatun locks and Gatun Dam where a raft will wait for us to continue the river journey toward the Atlantic Ocean, as Pirate Morgan did after burning down Panama City. We will end our adventure with a visit to Fort San Lorenzo. Don´t expect to find USA war boats shooting live amunition in the river.... the last USA soldier left Panama in December 1999.