Barro Colorado Island Research Institute, Panama
The first day of anything we do in life is full of expectations, and today was no exception, the National Geographic Sea Lion dropped anchor in the waters of the Gatun Lake, the heart of the Panama Canal. After a successful crossing of the first half of our transit through this mankind masterpiece of engineering, we awoke ready to explore another masterpiece, this one provided by Mother Nature.
Today’s outing took place at the Barro Colorado Island. It is a very unique place, known as one of the most researched and studied tropical rainforests in the world. When the Chagres River was dammed in order to create the lake for the Panama Canal, the top of many hills became islands. One of these islands has a larger and healthier forest then the others and is protected under the administration of the Smithsonian Research Institute. Since the 1920’s thousand of studies and publications have been produced on this island, many of the most well-known tropical biologists of the world have been to this forest, walking and exploring the same trails we did.
The term “rainforest” refers to any forest which receives more than 100 inches of precipitation per year despite its latitude. Therefore, there is a rainforest in Alaska and Washington, but we don’t normally think of them when we say rainforest. Instead we picture the lush, humid and thick growth of the tropics.
Hikers and Zodiac cruisers were able to experience the sound, essence and the majestic glittering effect that the rain gives to the lush vegetation. For those who chose to walk through the entangled vegetation, their experience was overwhelming. The towering trees that reach the canopy level are used by several plant species to obtain sunlight. These species also send long skinny roots down to the floor level for nutrients. Hundreds of leaf patterns may look different, but they all share the same glossy oil covering and dripping tip. The dripping tip at the end of each leaf pushes the extra rain water away and the glossy covering protects the surface. The more we submerged ourselves in this forest the more we admired that there is no such thing as boring greenery. Over 3000 species of plants coexist on this island with heavy rains, high humidity, poor sunlight and intense heat. The expectations we had about the tropics were completed by the sound of toucans and howler monkeys, and so we start our trip through the wonders of Costa Rica and Panama.
