When I got hired to photograph a major international conference in Panama for the US Grains & Bioproducts Council, Cami and I decided to fly down a few days early and enjoying all the beautiful nature and wildlife! We had visited Panama about a decade earlier, and fell in love with the country. Being a neighbor of Costa Rica, it has many of the same gorgeous tropical birds. And it even has some really cool indiginous wildlife found nowhere else on the planet, like the Golden Frog!
The Panamanian golden frog (Atelopus zeteki) is a critically endangered, highly poisonous frog—actually a toad—that uses a unique, hand-waving “semaphore” signal to communicate near loud, rushing mountain streams. Native only to Panama, they are a national symbol of luck and prosperity. Unfortunately, they are now believed to be extinct in the wild due to a deadly invasive fungus. Our decision to stay in El Valle de Anton during our time in Panama was largely based on the fact that the El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center Foundation (EVACC), which was the organization that saw the effects of this terrible fungus and sprang into action to save as many Golden Frogs as possible from the wild, was just a mile up the road from our hotel! We visited EVACC on the last day of our trip, and were lucky enough to see one of these amazing amphibians that was part of their breeding program.
The hotel where we stayed was aptly named the Golden Frog Inn. It was a beautiful oasis, with large spacious rooms, friendly staff, a nice sized pool, picturesque grounds, and an excellent in-house restaurant. The property was built on the side of what looked like a steep mountain. When in fact, we were literally perched on the inner “wall” of a crater, with views of the rim towering behind us, and views of the town far below in the “bowl”! El Valle de Antón is a unique town located inside the caldera of one of the world’s largest inhabited, inactive volcanoes, which last erupted roughly 300,000 years ago. Known for its cool, spring-like climate year-round, it offers a dramatic escape from Panama City’s heat, surrounded by lush cloud forests, hot springs, and hiking trails.
Speaking of trails, the highlight of our stay was when we met up with our bird guide at the famous Canopy Lodge for a fun day of “birding”! Although it was unusually windy and rainy for this time of year, which made the hiking trails a bit muddy, we still managed to spot a TON of unbelievable wildlife in the span of our 6-hour tour. We had booked a Day Hike. But many of the other guests on our tour were actually staying at the lodge. We had inquired about staying there. However, they didn’t have availability for our dates. And although they had unbelievable bird stations attracting all kinds of activity, we honestly liked our accomodations at Golden Frog Inn better.
Besides all the wildlife, we enjoyed spending time in El Valle. It has a charming, peaceful atmosphere about it. There aren’t as many ex-pats living here as there are in other parts of Panama, like Bokete, Coronado, Volcan, or Playa Blanca. So we had to rely more heavily on my broken Spanish and our Google Translate app than we expected. But it was charming to barter with the locals while shopping at the farmers market, or mime our way through ordering a meal at the local restaurants. We also visited the Serpentario Maravillas Tropicales, a small family owned serpentarium…as well as Mariposario del Valle, the local butterfly sanctuary.
Our biggest regret was that we hadn’t booked a longer visit to this beauitul country! The locals seem so happy, everyone is incredibly nice, the healthcare system is amazing (and affordable), prices are reasonable (although not necessarily “cheap”), nature and wildlife abound, the climate is great, they use the US dollar for currency (nice not to have to do cartwheels in your head to figure out what you’re spending), crime is virtually non-existent, and the economy is in great shape! Who knows…maybe we’ll be back to Panama for another visit some day in the future???
