Summit Garden Nature Park Panama
From their website summitpanama.org: “…..The Summit Nature Park-Panama is a center for recreation, education, conservation, and investigation dedicated to reflect and enhance Panama’s tropical and cultural diversity. Inspiring respect and awe, one visitor at a time, one generation at a time.
The first botanical gardens were planted at Summit in 1923 by the United States, part of a program to reproduce and distribute tropical plants from around the world. In 1929 the name “Canal Zone Experimental Gardens” was bestowed upon the site and in 1962 a small collection of native animals was added. In 1979, under the terms of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, ownership of Summit reverted to the national government and then to the City of Panama in 1985, when it became known as the Summit Municipal Park and Botanical Garden…..”
The park is easy accessible by a short drive from Panama City on the road to Gamboa, see the Panama Map here for location. This park is a must for any visitor or resident to Panama. First you get to see two of the most impressive birds around: the National bird of Panama: The Harpy Eagle and you can also see the colorful King Vulture besides many others like Macaws, Parrots, Toucans etc plus a wide variety of native animals like the Jaguar some monkeys and much more. It is also a great place for some easy nature walks and a good spot for birdwatching as the place is surrounded by the Soberania National Park, see free flying Toucans, Motmots, Flycatchers, Tanagers, the Masked Tityra (see attached image), Woodpeckers, noisy Parrots and many more. And best of all the admission fee is just one dollar so get out there and enjoy nature!
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- Harpy Eagle
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- Keel Billed Toucan
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- King Vulture
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- Masked Tityra
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- Summit Garden Gate
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- Summit Nature Park
[...] is another great spot to view some exotic birds: the Summit Ponds! Just in front of the Summit Nature Park (on the opposite side of the road to Gamboa) is a small road that leads a downhill and just a few [...]
[...] This post is not exactly about birds but worth checking out anyway, if you have not been to the Summit Garden Nature Park Panama in a while, then you should do so! There is a new exhibit for a while now already that is well worth seeing, its the Mundo Jaguar (Jaguar World). Great place to see this majestic powerful Jaguar close up and while there yes there is also a great variety of birds to see like the famous Harpy Eagle, the Kink Vulture for example and many others. The park is easy accessible by a short drive from Panama City on the road to Gamboa, see the Panama Map here for location.r more details on the Summit Garden Nature Park Panama see also this earlier post. [...]
Panama is a great place for birds. Although the species are less exotic there are birds outside my apartment in downtown Panama City singing every morning. I love the fact that I hear the morning chorus as I am making my coffee at 5:30 am even in January when my former home in the Northern USA is covered with snow.
My little houseplant jungle on my balcony attracts little brown birds to check for bugs and to visit with my wife’s two caged Australian parakeets. The visitors also clean up after the messy parakeets for which I am thankful.
I love going into the area beyond Cero Azul to a friend’s farm to watch the toucans feast on berries on one of his trees but I love just as much seeing the litte birds making their way in the city. I am reminded of seeing a coyote near my home in South Minneapolis around midnight years ago. Life has a way of finding its niches.
For a brief (800 words) travel article abou Summit Nature Park and efforts to save amphibians I am in need of a hi-def image of the park…just a generic view…the entryway, a zoo admission sign, and of course if possible, a shot of the sanitary facility where the frog specimen are being cared for…but that may be asking too much. I would need a correct credit line to run with the picture. Hopefully! LS