Author: Rosannette Quesada

To celebrate our 25th Anniversary, we’ve been sharing the inspiring story of how Raúl Arias de Para, Canopy Family’s president and founder, turned a vision into reality. In our previous Newsletter, we explored the challenges Raúl faced in finding the perfect location near the Panama Canal for an ecolodge. After much perseverance, he secured the concession to transform an old radar tower in Soberanía National Park into a unique retreat for bird and nature enthusiasts. In the final episode of this saga, we delve into the challenges Raúl faced during and after reconstruction—a journey marked by creativity and persistence. “The reconstruction of the tower was hard, but it was fun!” Raúl recalls with a smile. Overcoming Obstacles at Every Step The tower’s location, atop a hill about 35 minutes from Panama City, posed its first challenge. Transporting construction materials up the hill required meticulous planning. Then came the architectural hurdles—designing a space conducive to birdwatching and nature observation. Originally, the tower lacked windows in the living spaces, an essential feature for an ecolodge, so architects worked tirelessly to incorporate large windows. Also, Raúl had to replace the original metal flooring on the upper levels with concrete—no small feat, considering the difficulty of hauling materials up the tower's stairs. The Water Supply Conundrum Another big concern during the reconstruction process was a looking for a drinking water source. One day, while renovations were underway, a former radar operator from the Air Force visited the site out of curiosity. When Raúl inquired about the tower’s original water source, the man explained they once used a water wheel but abandoned it due to concerns over potential poisoning during their surveillance operations, since they were monitoring flights, which sometimes were suspected of carrying drugs. Raúl saw an opportunity. With some ingenuity and effort, he

Recently, we were featured in Peregrine Magazine! In this article, our friend Mike Dawson tells the story about his flight to Panama getting delayed because of the amazing raptor migration. Once in Panama, he got to it: hundreds of Black and Turkey Vultures, Broad-winged Hawks, Swainson’s Hawks, and Mississippi Kites passing by Panama to spend the winter in the south, a truly unique event you can witness from the comfort of the Canopy Tower. He also traveled to Canopy Camp Darién, to see the magnificent Harpy Eagle, along with other amazing bird species. We are truly thankful to Hawk and Owl Trust, and their magazine Peregrine, for this incredible article.         

Before opening the Canopy Tower, on January 1st, 1999, our president and founder Raúl Arias de Para was involved in many things. He was an international banker for 10 years, working in Panama, Bogotá, and Chicago.  Upon his return to Panama he was active in local politics and was elected to the National Assembly for two consecutive periods.  In 1984, he wrote a book about Panama’s presidential elections of that year which became the all-time bestseller in the country. After the fall of the Noriega regime in 1990, he worked for the new government, and afterward had other successful businesses of his own: a public opinion polling company, a stock brokerage firm, and a real estate development company; nothing related to birds or hospitality. However, the idea of creating an ecolodge was, somehow, always in the back of his head. One day while traveling for work, he saw a book in an airport magazine store explaining the origin of tropical fruits like mango, pineapple, etc. He bought it and he remembers thinking: One day this book will be in the library of an ecolodge I’ll build in the tropics. “It’s amazing how these ideas are in the back of your head, and you do other things until that moment comes, but everything has its moment!” Raúl says. In our July Newsletter, you read the story of how Raúl became a birder. As you may recall, he and his wife Denise took a birding course given by the Panama Audubon Society in 1990, and some years later they attended a seminar offered by the Ecotourism Society about how to build an ecolodge. After this, Raúl felt the moment he had been waiting for, to finally open his own ecotourism business, had arrived. But where will it be built? For years, he

Canopy Camp Darién: Always great, now even better! Sometimes, Darién is regarded as a far-away paradise but with harsh and limited conditions. It does takes around five hours from Panama City to get there, but what about if we tell you that these are five hours of birding on the way, where you will have the opportunity to spot Crimson-crested, Spot-breasted, and Golden-green Woodpeckers, Olivaceous Piculet, Cocoi and Tiger-Herons, Barred Puffbird, Golden-headed Manakin, Black Antshrike, Gray-lined Hawk, and if we are lucky, even Black Hawk-Eagle. Our guides are experts at locating the regional specialties that inhabit this area and skillful at navigating the changing conditions of the region from season to season. Also, we make a delicious lunch stop at a local restaurant with beautiful hummingbird feeders where we can spot Black-throated Mango, Scaly-breasted, Snowy-bellied, and Sapphire-throated Hummingbirds, Garden Emerald, Long-billed Starthroat, and White-necked Jacobin while we enjoy a delicious local meal. After this exciting birding route, we will pass by Metetí, the closest town to the Canopy Camp, where many small businesses, hardware stores, supermarkets, pharmacies, a bank, and even different universities are found. From there, it is just 20 minutes to arrive at the amazing Canopy Camp. At first sight, the Canopy Camp common area will impress you, because suddenly, the small road connecting Metetí with the Camp opens into a spacious clearing in the middle of the majestic and very unique forest of eastern Panama. The common area consists of the open dining room at one side and on the other side the very cozy, open-air library and lounge area with comfortable sofas, chairs, and hammocks where we usually spend time going through the checklists after the daily tours or just observing birds in the vicinity, as both areas are surrounded by beautiful gardens and hummingbird feeders

Back in 1999, the marvelous Canopy Tower began its second life as a birding lodge, representing the birth of the Canopy Family. It has certainly been a journey full of ups and downs, but ultimately, it was a dream brought to realization. Little did Raúl Arias de Para, our Canopy Family President and founder, know that 25 years later, the Canopy Family would have become a family company of not only one, but three highly unique ecolodges, with 70 direct employees. Over these years, we’ve collected amazing anecdotes, some of which we will reveal little by little during this and future issues of our Newsletter. How was the dream born? In 1990 (nine years before the official opening of the Canopy Tower), Raúl was a businessman working for the government, striving to put Panama back on track after a long period of dictatorship. One day, he saw an advertisement in the newspaper where the Panama Audubon Society was offering a birdwatching course. He immediately asked his wife Denise, “What if we joined this course?” to which she replied, “Let’s do it!” The course included theoretical classes on Wednesdays and practical sessions on Saturdays in Panama City. At that time, Raúl used to spend weekends in El Valle de Antón, where he had a second home (and where the Canopy Lodge is located today). So, he attended the Wednesday classes but missed the Saturday field sessions. However, every Saturday, he would go birding with his friend Danilo Rodríguez (who is now one of our most experienced Canopy Family birding guides) and share everything he had learned during the week. After a few weeks, the course instructors asked Raúl why he was missing all the Saturday practices. Raúl told them about his birding sessions in El Valle with his friend Danilo and

Imagine if you had started birdwatching when you were 6. Julien Amsellem is an enthusiastic 19-year-old New Yorker from Hastings-on-Hudson, who has been birding actually since he was 6 years old. The moment that defined that he wanted to be a birdwatcher was when an impressive Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus), the largest extant woodpecker in North America and one of the largest in the world, landed outside his house, as he lived in a green area. The moment was so remarkable that after that, he started a birdwatching club that grew to 40 kids who joined him watching birds. Ever since that event, Julien never stopped birding. His family has always supported his journey, and one of his parents always joins him on his birding trips, which are usually a combination of birding and other types of touristic activities. In this way, Julien has traveled within the U.S., to Mexico, Costa Rica, Grenada Island, Spain, France, and more recently, he visited Panama to observe some birds with his dad. He defined Panama as a fantastic small area where you can see so many different species, and in which with a hundred meters of difference in elevation you have a whole new assemblage of birds. He visited the Canopy Tower and Canopy Lodge, and the Canopy Camp will remain as a future destination, as one of his dreams is to watch the Harpy Eagle. At such a young age, Julien has photographed around 800 birds, and during his visit to Panama he achieved the milestone of observing 1,000 different species of birds, recording around 120 lifers in Panama. The 1,000 hero: a charming Whooping Motmot. Some birds were a little challenging to spot. For instance, the hawk-eagles, some ant-follower birds, and the White-tipped Sicklebill, which has been visiting the Canopy Lodge

Denia was looking for a job, when her cousin, who worked with Canopy Family, told her there was an opening.And just like that, Denia started working as a housekeeper at the Canopy Tower in 2018, six years ago. One day, to spice her work up, she started folding the towels differently. The first shapes she made were flowers, and she loved them and enjoyed the process very much. Then, she thought that because visitors come to see mostly animals, she could fold some towels in animal shapes. Consequently, she started learning on her own, watching videos on YouTube, practicing with different shapes and sizes of towels, and started making turtles, elephants, swans, and her masterpiece: sloths.  She had a lot of fun during her work every day, and with practice, she also became very fast. She started to notice that visitors expressed their joy when they saw the towels folded especially for them, and that encourages her to keep folding the towels in different shapes. Denia says this is a particular detail that makes visitors feel warm and welcome. Now, when a couple is celebrating their anniversary or a visitor is celebrating a birthday, Denia is called in advance because she has a special job: decorating the room personally for them with towels folded especially for them. More recently, Denia was transferred to the kitchen staff, but she has been teaching the new housekeeping personally so they can give the room that unique touch. Nevertheless, she is still the one that will decorate your room for that special occasion!            

      Recently, the rainforests of Panama faced a historically significant threat. Nevertheless, at present, the opportunity to appreciate them has never been greater, making a visit to Panama more worthwhile than ever, as never before have the Panamanian people been so aware of the importance of their conservation. A few weeks ago, Panama experienced a significant period of disruption. Travel became challenging, and a sense of uncertainty reminiscent of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic was palpable. This upheaval, however, was rooted in a noble cause: the protection of Panama's magnificent rainforests. The sequence of events unfolded as follows: On Friday, October 20th, the President of Panama sanctioned a law permitting a new contract between a foreign mining company and the Panamanian government, for the management of an existing copper mine. Situated 120 km from Panama City near the  Caribbean coast, the 13,000-hectare mine, the largest in Central America, lies within the densely forested Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. Although the agreement, valid for 20 years and extendable for another 20, promised local employment, personnel training, profit-sharing with the government, and eco-friendly management, it faced opposition from the Panamanian public due to ongoing disagreements dating back to 1997. Therefore, on that very Friday, peaceful protests erupted across Panama, and what began as small gatherings quickly swelled in number. Each day saw a doubling of protestors, culminating a week later with 20,000 people on the main roads of Panama City, not to mention those protesting in other provinces. These numbers were unprecedented in Panama's history. People of all ages, including families, students, environmental groups, labor unions, and youth organizations, took to the streets. Armed with Panamanian flags, handmade banners, costumes, and music, they expressed their discontent with the mining contract, local corruption, and the escalating cost of living. The Panamanian