| Activities
Nearby:
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Tanager
Tourism provides a place to stay
and a relaxed atmosphere. Here at our farm-to-forest project, Panamagic,
there are almost no limits to what you can do.
Whether you
want to sway in a hammock, sunbath on the beach, go horse riding,
get artistic with a piece of driftwood, hike up into the Cerro Hoya
Mountains, snorkel at Coiba, get to know the locals or the wildlife,
we can help you do it.
For those
who want to go further a field or have a special interest, like
Bird Watching, or Painting and
crafts (email us –
this is a new 2012 offer), we provide tours for small groups.
Click on the
links on the left to view details on each of the activities.
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Measuring
growth of a
Mahogany tree |
Our
photo gallery shows you that small really is beautiful!
If you are traveling on-line,
find out more about our project and how
you can help at a distance
and make our
blog and Facebook
page your favorites! |
PANAMAGIC
TOURS
VISIT OUR FARM-TO-FOREST
PROJECT
We have a short tour of
our property where you can learn all there is to know about reforestation.
This walk over our rather steep hills, explores most vantage points
on the property to give you good views. It includes a visit to
the nursery and creek area.
A similar tour is also the
start of your work week if you join us as
a volunteer! If you just want to give us a hand for the day
we can discuss the general list of day tasks. If you are interested
in working longer and harder as a volunteer or if you are a biology
or forestry student, please send us an e-mail
with your CV or skills and interests and we shall reply to you
within a few days.
For the very lazy people
staying with us we guarantee that our various verandas already
in place provide excellent observation points for both the reforestation
process and birdlife, provided you manage to keep your eyes open
while observing from our hammocks! The hummingbirds are specifically
abundant late summer and beginning of the rainy season.
| Tour of
the property with our grounds caretaker about reforestation
- 2 hrs |
$ 3.00
p.p. |
Book
Now !
BUG-EYED TOUR
For those that do keep
their eyes open: Bug-eyed is beautiful and we show you on this
tour.
One of our biologists will
be your guide for two hours. Join him or his early morning or
late afternoon on the creepy-crawly bug-eyed tour, where we try
to get you close to butterflies, dragon flies, caterpillars, praying
mantis, wasps, scorpions and spiders. And we hope to show you
some frogs, lizards and birds too.
We charge $10.00 for the
tour.
Book
Now !
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Turtle
hatchlings – Olive ridley |
Learn
about the turtle conservation programme |
TURTLE
WATCHING
Malena has
a Turtle Conservation Group (read
more) and from July to November you can come along with their
members on Turtle Beach Patrol. You start early evening to look
for egg laying turtles and take records when you find one. Once
the turtle has laid her eggs, the patrol unit collects the eggs
to re-bury them in a nursery cage, safe from dogs and other predators.
Patrolling
gives excellent opportunities to see the turtles up close and there
will be some photo opportunities as well, when she is on her way
back to the water.
And from
September to January, the eggs hatch within the nursery. Usually
in the late afternoon or early morning (before sunrise!), the hatchlings
are brought outside the cage and you can watch and photograph the
hatchlings as they make their way to the sea.
We ask a
minimum contribution of $ 5 per person as a donation to the Turtle
Group when you do an activity with them.
The Turtle
group uses your donation to maintain the infrastructure needed to
protect turtle nests, to initiate new projects and to offset income
losses associated with their location in the buffer zone of two
internationally recognized and protected areas (Coiba World Heritage
Site and Gulfo de Montijo RAMSAR wetland). You are of course always
welcome to provide a larger direct donation to the association!
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Lasso
competition |
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EXPLORING
ON YOUR OWN OR WITH THE LOCALS
We have maps and can direct
you for tours by yourself to any beach in the area. Whether you
come by public transport or by car, you can explore the surrounding
area also on foot or on horseback. We have some old surf boards
to enjoy the waves (Torio, Mariato, Morillo) and for those who
love walking there is the cave at the beach between Palo Seco
and Malena, and Malena has a waterfall with an excellent pool
at the bottom.
If you think it is more
fun to go along with a guide, we have several community members
that can take you for a small fee. Our own multi-lingual biologists
are (nearly) always available too if you do not speak any Spanish
but still would like to speak with the locals about the surroundings.
You can practice your Spanish
as you enjoy the Panamanian way of live:
- Learn how to lasso calves from a horse and follow the cattle
from one grazing area to the other. Or just go horse-riding with
a local guide.
- Or while you are coming
back from your walk to and swim at the waterfall, press some sugar
cane into a lovely drink and learn how sugar is made.
- If you want to catch your
own meal, we can arrange a fishing trip with one of the local
or foreign sports fishermen (it may be at night!). Our restaurant
staff will be happy to clean and prepare your catch.
- If you want to learn how
to make sancocho, patacones and other Panamanian delicacies, we
can arrange some time for you with our cook…
Prices for activities with
a local Panamanian vary a bit but generally are around $10 per
hour per person. Ask us by email or when you get here!
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Isla
Gobernadora |
MarViva
is very active to protect Coiba island and its bufferzones and are
regularly assisting the community of Malena.
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American
Wood Storks |
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SNORKLING
TOURS AND BOAT TRIPS
There are some excellent
snorkelling reefs near Cébaco and Gobernadora Island, a
short boat ride away. Since dolphins are common in the Gulf of
Montijo, you may see them on your way to or from the reef.
The
Gulf of Montijo is a RAMSAR site and an Important Bird Area
(IBA) and worth exploring. We offer a full day guided tour. On
this tour you can observe and learn about the mangrove forests
and local wildlife. Since you are quite some time on the boat,
you are likely indeed to see dolphins!
For those that want to
increase their chances to see a whale or dolphin, we can organize
special ‘Cetacea’ trips (dolphins and whales) from
July to September. When humpback whales are present in the Gulf
of Montijo. The very lucky might see other species of whales as
well. Orca and Sperm whale have occasionally been seen just south
of Cébaco Island by big game fishers. We always follow
international guidelines for whale watching. Members of the Malena
community group have been on a special workshop for this (sponsored
by Mar
Viva).
Fishing trips can be organized
for you in various ways: you can join the fisher folk on their
work (you adapt to their schedules!) or a local fisherman takes
you on a special trip (your time and some more flexibility!).
And we know just the man to take you deep sea fishing too ($400.00
per day all included 1 to 4 fishermen).
There are several fishermen
owning boats but few are officially allowed to transport passengers.
Note that in the area fishing for the fish and shrimp is lucrative,
and prices for tourist to use the boat are therefore relatively
expensive!
Book
Now !
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Artistic
with beachwood |
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Coasters |
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FOR
THE RAINY DAY OR JUST TO HAVE FUN!
We are in the humid tropics
where a rainforest grows naturally! It does rain regularly from
May to December – mostly in the afternoon, so we have designed
a range of ‘veranda’ and workshop activities:
- We offer a get creative with beach wood, bamboo, calabases or
anything else…like making your own t-shirt or painting.
The use of our tools and assistance is $ 10. {Link to future crafts
blog}
- Soon we’ll have a
full week workshop for those that like being creative, meanwhile
send us an email about it.
- We have hammocks to laze
about and watch the rain.
- We can provide you with
some fitness equipment and a yoga book so you can exercise or
work out. Just ask when you are here.
- Learn about natural beauty
and take a papaya or buckwheat mask, or use the healing powers
of the potato and cucumber skins to treat your sun burns from
the morning beach walk!
- We have many magazines
and books that you can read and even can offer you some DVDs for
watching on a computer.
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