Escudo de Veraguas, an island known for its lush forests and crystalline waters, is roughly one hour from Rio Caña, an Indigenous Ngäbe Buglé community, featured on a new tourism network in Panama. The island is the only place were travelers can see the rare three-toed pygmy sloth.is an adventure traveler’s playground, with rainforest hikes set to the soundtrack of howler monkeys and conservationist-led beach jaunts to watch sea turtles nest at night.
Indigenous peoples—around 14 percent of the population—live in and around these natural hotspots, such as national park buffer zones and forests. They safeguard much of the country’s biodiversity. The strategy’s main goal is to grow visitor numbers in a way that prioritizes people and nature. “Community tourism is a link to conservation,” says Annie Young, president of SOSTUR and theRaft, hike, and harvest cacao in a tropical forestthat straddles the border of Costa Rica and Panama.
“The community understands that the protection and conservation of the turtles is what brings more tourism,” says Pérez. The same goes for mangroves, which face threats like coastal development, nutrient runoff, and, a maze through scraggly trees and shrubs that welcomes kayakers, boaters, and birdwatchers. The path includes seven education stations where travelers can learn about the vital species. The country’s over 400,000 acres of mangrove forests hold 52 million tons of carbon.