My husband and I recently visited Panama during a cruise. We had initially booked an excursion through Celebrity; the ‘Gatun Lake Safari’ but cancelled it when they changed the venue. After posting some questions on Cruise Critic about alternative excursions, a gentleman told us about a private Gatun Lake excursion that he highly recommended. Here is the link to his review:
http://www.newsroompanama.com/travel/panama/1853-jungle-exploring-from-lake-gatuns-only-houseboat.html
We found further information about this tour from two websites:
http://junglelandpanama.com/ and http://www.gatunexplorer.com/
We contacted Carl by e-mail: info@junglelandpanama.com and booked the tour.
We were nervous about booking this private excursion since it was our first cruise and were scared that we’d miss our departure time. We also felt uneasy because Carl uses another company to collect payment. We had to give our credit card info by fax or e-mail and pay for the tour in full in advance. We were worried that we would get ripped off, but decided to go for it after reading Richard’s review.
We were relieved when we were met at the Colon port by Olga from Ocean 2 Ocean transfer service. This was the most organized pick-up out of all of our excursions. She took us to a private van with a driver where we began the 1 hour drive to Gatun Lake. Olga was a really knowledgeable and friendly girl who answered any questions that we had and told us about the history of the area.
We met Carl at a lake dock where we began our adventure aboard a small motorboat with about 16 other people. He drove us around many islands on Gatun Lake including Monkey Island for a couple of hours. He told us all about the history of the lake and the canal. Carl is a really fun guy who made learning fun as we laughed almost the whole time! We saw howler monkeys, white-faced capuchins, sloths, and alligators. At one point, 3 white-faced capuchins boarded our boat and we were able to feed them by hand! Here is a link to some of the pictures that we took:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuartclark/5464966075/in/photostream/
We arrived at Carl’s houseboat where we had a delicious hot lunch, dove into the lake from a 2nd story platform, and relaxed on hammocks. The houseboat is in the middle of nowhere and is surrounded by lush rainforest; it was extremely beautiful and peaceful. He has many ‘critters’ on board including a cayman, a snake, a parrot, lizards, a bush baby and a toucan. Although we believe that Carl love’s these animals and cares for them well, we couldn’t help but feel sad that they live in captivity.
We were then given the option of fishing or kayaking. We went on the kayak trip where we traversed small inlets and enjoyed nature. Our destination was a pretty waterfall flowing into a pool of freshwater where we could jump from a ledge at the top; exhilarating!
Carl drove us all back to the dock where we were again met by Olga and driven back to the cruise port with plenty of time to spare.
Overall, we both felt that this excursion was the highlight of our cruise and very good value at $95 USD per person for 7 hours including lunch. We would highly recommend booking this excursion either during a cruise or land visit to Panama. If you are an adventurous nature lover; you won’t be disappointed!
Before booking this tour, it is important to note that you will not see the canal during this tour. We were much more interested in nature so this was great for us!
