The island

This weekend I decided to go and explore a natural sanctuary which is an island in the canal. The island has a field station as well and there are boats that take you there. We took the 8 AM boat on Saturday the ride was easy and smooth and was just 30 minutes. We got there eat a couple of bananas and started our hike. We saw howler monkeys almost instantly, the population of these monkeys seems to be more used to humans and also might be denser than in Gamboa, since the place is protected from poachers. We walked to famous spot called "big tree" I saw a few big ceibas (huge jungle trees) but when we arrived to the spot it was obvious, we were in front of a huuuuuge ceiba, -thicker than the red woods I saw in California earlier this year-. I estimate the tree was about 6 meters width. While contemplating this magnificent tree we saw a big yellow-greenish thing climbing the tree, but it was too high so it was impossible to catch. I said to myself "I hope is falls down so we can see what is it" and luckily the bug fall down. We quickly realized it was an insect and grabbed it! it was about 4 inches long and 2 inches wide. I immediately recognized it, it was a buprestid. It had beautifull elytra (wing covers) covered in a yellow-green iridiscent dust and underneath it was iridescent metallic purple.

After lunch we decided to take a couple of kayaks to explore the island. We were told that there was a lot of crocodriles around, and in fact several people told us they had seen a couple of them near the dock just earlier in the morning. The kayaks were quite small and I honestly didn't feel very safe on them, also we did not have life vests. We didn't go to far but we saw beautiful landscapes and a couple of predatory birds. Since the island is just off the canal main "lane" used by the huge cargo ships we had the opportunity to litterally sail side by side with one of these huuge ships. They sail very quiet and smoothly and don't generate waves. One of this monsters passed by and we were at about 150 meter from it totally amazed!

At night we went on a hike looking for snakes and frogs. We found some really interesting frogs and one non-poisonus snake.

Today in the morning we went on a hike looking for the famous dart frogs that are used by natives in their darts to hunt. We found a small stream and start walking through it uphill,(These little frogs loved this type of wet places). It did not take too long until we found the first one, beautiful little frog all black with green spots all over, just beautiful. We handled it to take some pictures and then we released it and washed our hands to remove the neuro-toxin impregnated in our hands.

Weekend is over...