MEXICO CITY, July 22 (Portal) – Deep in the Panamanian jungle, Venezuelan migrant Franca Ramirez was trying to reach higher ground when a raging river burst its banks as something caught his eye: a group of young men taking photos of the landscape.
The former police officer, who claims to have fled prison and torture in Venezuela, said he was surprised.
It was more than a day’s journey to Darien Gap. The infamous jungle stretch in Panama has become a treacherous part of the journey for tens of thousands of people trekking across America hoping to eventually reach the United States.
“I asked if they were migrants,” Ramirez said last month after traveling to Mexico. “They said no, they would create content and landmarks in the jungle.”
The encounter was a rare moment when two different worlds collided in one of the wildest places on earth.
The jungle has long attracted die-hard adventurers. It is known as the “gap” on the Darien Isthmus in Panama because, at approximately 60 miles long, it is the only missing section on the Pan-American Highway, which stretches from Alaska to Argentina.
For decades, only the most intrepid travelers ventured into this once impenetrable forest, fleeing guerrillas and bandits; on the hunt for rare orchids or the Great Green Macaw; and looking for the thrill of being one of the few brave enough to venture into the wilderness where the road ends.
As adventure tourism has grown in popularity around the world — from climbing Mount Everest to taking a submarine to see the Titanic — travel agencies have also organized group trips into the remote jungle.
“Tourism in Darien has been on the decline for decades,” said longtime Panamanian tour guide Rick Morales. “The jungle is special because it’s powerful and humbling.”
In recent years, parts of this jungle have become the scene of humanitarian catastrophes. Hundreds of thousands of migrants from around the world, including Afghanistan and parts of Africa, cross dangerous terrain en route to the US border.
Barred from entering countries closer to the United States due to visa restrictions, a quarter of a million people traveled through the lawless region last year.
According to the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM), at least 137 migrants have died or gone missing, including at least 13 minors.
In addition to the lack of infrastructure, the Darien also poses security challenges: Above all, the migrant routes are controlled by criminal groups.
“The actual number of migrants who died in the jungle and went missing is much, much higher,” the IOM said in a statement to Portal.
Tourists and migrants rarely meet in person; The routes are almost always tens of kilometers apart. The migratory routes run along the north coast of the Darien on the Caribbean Sea, providing the most direct way to traverse the roadless jungle. Most tourism takes place closer to the Pacific Ocean.
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The humanitarian crisis is not mentioned in the travel advertisement. Depending on the type of trip, tourist packages can range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per person, and the package may include medical supplies, satellite phones, related equipment, and a cook.
Marco Wanske, a 31-year-old German who went on a 12-day jungle trek in January, said everyone in his group suffered minor injuries including “jungle rot,” a fungus that affects the feet, and one person had to be carried by the group on the final day because they couldn’t walk.
Migrants at the mercy of smuggling gangs often get significantly less for their money.
Kisbel Garcia, a migrant from Venezuela, said she paid over $4,000 to a guide who promised to lead her and her four children and mother-in-law safely through the jungle. But instead of offering protection like tourists, Garcia’s guide abandoned them two days into the trek.
The family hiked through the mountains for six days, passing dead bodies for running out of food, she says, and relying on scraps of blue cloth tied to trees by migrants to mark the path of those following them.
You survived.
“We migrants have to fight against all risks without any help,” she said. “The Darien is Hell.”
Conflicting Goals
According to a 2021 report by the Adventure Travel Trade Association, the global adventure tourism market is booming, experts say. Spending totals over $680 billion.
Social media has helped increase interest in visiting some of the world’s most remote and inaccessible places, as travelers increasingly flaunt the risk and exclusivity of their trips through selfies and TikTok videos.
[1/10]A group of migrants from Venezuela, Ecuador and Haiti cross the Rio Muerto river in the Darien Gap as they continue their journey to the U.S. border in Acandi, Colombia July 9, 2023. Portal/Adri Salido
According to the country’s 2020-2025 Sustainable Tourism Master Plan, the Panamanian government hopes to make Darien National Park the “premier eco-tourism destination in Central America.”
Many naturalists and bird watchers flock to the park, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981 for its biodiversity, dramatic landscape and indigenous communities.
Even some migrants recognize the paradox of the jungle’s charms. “While I was traveling, my heart suffered, but my eyes were filled with joy,” said Alejandra Peña of Venezuela, who crossed the jungle with her three children, her partner and elderly parents last year en route to the US border.
However, some humanitarian organizations have criticized adventure tourism in the Darien, saying marketing travel as a test of survival skills is distasteful and distracts from the plight of migrants.
“Darien is a humanitarian crisis area, not a vacation spot,” said Luis Eguiluz, who heads Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Colombia and Panama.
The intersection of these worlds has raised questions of ethical responsibility, experts say.
“What is our commitment to people who want to go places that are wilder?” said Lorri Krebs, a tourism and sustainability expert at Salem State University in Salem, Massachusetts. “We need standards, we need the ethical or moral component in our tourism efforts.”
In written responses to Portal questions about the ethics of such travel, the tourism ministry defended its efforts to boost international travel to the region, saying Panama “is blessed with expansive jungles, mighty rivers, mountain peaks, endless coastlines and diverse cultures.” At the same time, it acknowledged a “catastrophic humanitarian crisis” in a separate part of the Darien due to migration.
Under pressure from the US government, Panama says it has stepped up efforts to stop migrants crossing the jungle, including a campaign with the US announced in April. Nevertheless, the number of migrants in Darien has continued to rise.
The US State Department is warning travelers not to venture into a vast stretch of jungle said to be frequented by criminals and drug dealers, and where emergency services are scarce.
BIG QUESTION MARK
Some tourists are already dealing with such questions.
“The migration crisis in this region was a big question mark for me before the trip,” said German tourist Mark Fischer, who initially feared the 100-kilometer (62-mile) trek would amount to “crossing the Mediterranean Sea on a rubber dinghy for fun,” alluding to another part of the world experiencing a migration crisis. His concerns were allayed when he was told the trail would not intersect the migrants’ route.
From the beaches of Greece to Big Bend National Park in Texas, which borders the US-Mexico border, sunbathing and hiking often take place in areas where other people risk their lives, said Morales, the tour guide.
But in the nearly 25 years he’s hosted people in the Darien, he’s never encountered migrants and says he plans his routes to keep those worlds apart.
“Personally, I couldn’t put food in my mouth or lie in my hammock protected from the elements, knowing that just a few hundred yards down the trail, a hungry mother and child are spending the night on the bare ground, with no shelter from rain or insects,” he said.
He added that hikers often ask how they can help local communities.
COMMUNITIES BENEFIT
Some indigenous people in the Darien – whose name some experts say derives from the Spanish pronunciation of the original indigenous name for a local river – rely on tourism to bolster the economies of their local communities.
Travel Darien Panama is an indigenous tour operator that states on its website that it wants to help fund schools and improve living conditions in their village. “We have lived here for decades and these forests are literally our home,” it says.
Company co-founder Carmelita Cansari of the Darien’s Embrera community says that part of the company’s goal is to share their way of life: “We offer what we have in our community,” she said. “Care for nature, our culture and dance.”
Nina Van Maris, a 32-year-old outdoor enthusiast from Luxembourg, said she was unaware of the migrant situation in Darien when she signed up for an excursion organized by German tour operator Wandermut.
She had seen an ad on Instagram while recovering from a serious, rare illness that had left her temporarily unable to walk. The trip became a motivation to fully recover.
“I thought to myself: If I can do this, I can do anything,” said Van Maris.
In 2021, she traversed the jungle for ten days, from a village on the Balsas River in the heart of the Darien to the Pacific Ocean.
“When I saw the beach, I thought to myself: I’ve made it. I cried, it was so emotional for me,” she said. “The jungle gave me my life back.”
Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon in Mexico City and Laura Gottesdiener in Monterrey; Additional reporting from Elida Moreno in Panama City and Maria Laguna in Mexico City; Edited by Stephen Eisenhammer and Claudia Parsons
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