Emberá village visit on the Chagres River

The last part of the trip is by dugout canoe. Emberá and Wounaan families moved here from Darién in the 1970s, settling along the Chagres River and Gatún Lake, and when the land became Chagres National Park they had to give up farming and logging. Hosting visitors is now how these communities earn their living, and the families run the visits themselves.

A village leader welcomes you and talks about the community's history, language and crafts. Most visits include a guided walk through the forest to learn about medicinal plants, sometimes a waterfall swim, a demonstration of basket weaving with palm fibre dyed in natural colours, and lunch on banana leaves (fried fish, fried plantain and tropical fruit). There is music and dancing, and guests get pulled in. Women paint temporary designs on visitors' skin with jagua seed dye, and the baskets, cocobolo carvings and tagua nut figures are for sale.

Visits must be booked ahead, and you go with a guide, because getting in means a national park entry and a canoe ride. Most trips collect you from your hotel. For the river villages the road ends at Puerto Corotú near Chilibre. Carry ID, and a swimsuit in case the walk ends at the waterfall.