Lago Gatún

Once the largest manmade lake in the world, at 422 square kilometers Lago Gatún is still a plenty impressive body of water. It was formed by damming the Río Chagres near its mouth, at Gatún, and is an integral part of the Panama Canal. Transiting ships still follow the submerged river bed of the Chagres, since it’s the deepest part of the lake. It’s long been a popular spot with boaters, water-skiers, fisherfolk, and even scuba divers. The diving here is unusual, to say the least. A Belgian locomotive and eight of its 40 train cars, abandoned during construction days, were recently salvaged from the bottom of the lake, and submerged trees and remnants of old towns are still there. Not surprisingly, however, the water is murky and in some places choked with vegetation. Divers often find the experience of poking around down there rather spooky.

These days, the only recreation I’d recommend on the lake is a boat ride or a fishing trip. Caimans have always shared the lake with people, but these days there are a lot more of the critters. An acquaintance whose idea of a fun family outing used to be playing catch-and-release with caimans—we’re not talking a wimp here—told me she would not even go water-skiing in the lake today. “It’s infested,” she said. The lake now also has crocodiles. A friend of a friend who lives in Gamboa, a town right on the lake, took his dog for a walk a few years back and watched in horror as a crocodile lunged out of the water and ate it.

In other words, I advise you to stay in the boat. The fishing here is terrific—the peacock bass population, accidentally introduced decades ago, is so out of control fishermen are actually encouraged to catch them to restore some kind of ecological balance. It’s not uncommon for an angler who knows the good spots to catch dozens of fish an hour.

A new highlight of a Lago Gatún boat trip is a visit to the Primate Refuge and Sanctuary of Panama (PRSP), a nonprofit monkey haven scattered among about a dozen islands in the lake, known collectively as the Islas Tigre and Islas Las Brujas. Here visitors can spot tamarins, spider monkeys, white-faced capuchins, howlers, and night monkeys swinging or peering from trees just a few meters from the boat.

Only visit the sanctuary on a tour led by a responsible naturalist group such as Ancon Expeditions. Do not feed or have any physical contact with the monkeys. All but the night monkeys have been rescued from illegal captivity, and the project is trying to reintroduce them to the wild. The last thing they need is more human contact. Besides, some can be pretty aggressive, so don’t get too close. For more information on the project, which attracts students and researchers, visit www.primatesofpanama.org. Some boat tours of the area include walks through small, forested islands, some of which have spooky ruins from the old Canal Zone days. Douse yourself with insect repellent before exploring them; the mosquitoes can be voracious.