Being a birdwatcher myself, I naturally looked for sites in which I could also practice this peaceful and challenging hobby. Barletta, which was essential to my finally realizing my dream, some two years and countless meetings later.įirst I began to explore the area around Gamboa, specifically Pipeline Road, which is renowned worldwide as a superb birding area.
Nicolas Ardito Barletta, the recently appointed Director General of the Autoridad de la Region Interoceanica (ARI), the agency of the Panamanian Government in charge of allocating the real estate being transferred to Panama by the United States in compliance with the Torrijos-Carter Treaties. Where else can you see 380 species of birds in a 24-hour period (a world record)? Where else can you see huge passenger ships navigate through a lush tropical forest? Where else can you see the Panama Canal, a true wonder of engineering and human ingenuity? Only in Panama, of course.Ĭonsequently, in August of 1995, I met for the first time with Dr. Who would want to come to Panama with such an unsavory character in power? After the US invasion of 1989–1990, I worked with the new government putting the country back on track, and it wasn’t until 1995 that I was ready to start realizing my dream.īack then I did not have a clear concept in my mind about what exactly I wanted to do, but I knew the areas around the Canal were unsurpassed in the whole world for ecotourism potential. With the signing of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties in 1977, this began to change, but the Noriega years slowed everything down and caused a backward leap in the Panamanian economy. However, as a businessman interested in ecotourism, I could not do anything about it because these lands were part of the Canal Zone or under US military control and, consequently, off-limits for commercial development. Furthermore, parts of these well-conserved forests are only minutes from Panama City. They contain an incredibly rich fauna, exuberant flora and some truly spectacular vistas. In January of 1999, the Canopy Tower was inaugurated and the rest, as they say, is history.įor years I have been fascinated by the rainforests surrounding the Panama Canal.
In August of 1997, the government of Panama signed a long-term contract with Raúl Arias de Para to transform the tower into a center for rainforest observation and ecotourism in Panama. In November of 1996, the radar tower, occupying a fenced-in area of approximately 1300 square meters, and the surrounding Semaphore Hill site, consisting of 35 hectares of rainforest within the 35,000 hectares of Soberanía National Park, were transferred from the US to Panama in compliance with the Torrijos-Carter Treaties. The tower played this role until June of 1995 when it was closed and left vacant waiting for better days. This network was used by the United States government to detect airplanes suspected of transporting illegal drugs from South America. In September of 1988, with the Cold War on the wane, the radar tower received a new assignment when it was activated as Site One in the Caribbean Basin Radar Network (CBRN). Its primary purpose was to facilitate the defense of the Panama Canal, a vital economic and military thoroughfare under the control of the US, in case of a potential Soviet attack. By 1969, the site was jointly used by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to control air traffic in the area, and by the Panama Canal Commission (PCC) as a communications tower. 1963, in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis, as a radar tower. The structure destined to become the Canopy Tower was constructed by the United States military ca. The Canopy Tower wasn’t always one of the best birding destinations in the world.
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