Attention, the content of this article is not as colorful as this start photo! The Darién Gap is a dangerous jungle and people lose their lives trying to escape to the north.
The following text is not meant to be sarcastic, but a serious offer from an agency to cross the Darién Jungle:
“Our goal is to cross the most notorious jungle in the world and reach the Pacific Ocean!
The Darién Gap!Together, we will spend days making our way through vines, lianas and dense undergrowth until we reach the beaches of the Pacific Ocean at the end. The challenges will be enormously varied and tough. But, with a strong and motivated team, it will be the adventure of a lifetime.
Fancy this adventure? Then take a look at our plan and apply for one of the free places! 3,643 EUR.”
Advertising the Darién Adventure by a German Travel Agency.
This is how a company advertises an adventure in one of the most dangerous areas in the world. And yes, there are clients for it. Crazy. A German travel agency is advertising the Darién Gap, which has already cost the lives of at least 300 migrants in search of a better life, as an adventure trip. Authorities in Panama warn: “I ask you to inquire before entering this jungle, because this is not an adventure, but a dangerous section that is not suitable for anyone”.
But sure, you can do that for THE Instagram photo, right?
We have to get past here somehow. We want to get from South America to Central America, from Colombia to Panama. Here, the Pan-American Highway is interrupted by a 96 km long area called the Darién Gap. The Pan-American Highway is a network of roads that together form the longest drivable route in the world. It begins in Alaska, ends in Ushuaia, Argentina and runs through a total of 14 countries. The official route ends at the border between Mexico and the USA, in Laredo, Texas.
We cycled it. Not completely, we started in Antofagasta in Chile, deviated several times and will continue to use it in part until we also enter Texas in the USA.
And now we are faced with the question of how to get around the Darién Gap.
Steep mountains, muddy swamps, dense forests, raging rivers, dangerous wild animals and high humidity and rainfall make this landscape almost impenetrable. A roadless area of dense jungle and marshland, a gathering place not only for snakes, scorpions and poisonous frogs, but also notorious for its lively drug trade and corrupt paramilitaries. To get from South to Central America without an airplane, we have to cross this area somehow. The only question is how… Maybe with the German travel company? Don’t worry, this is of course no option.
There are three options for us to get from Colombia to Panama
A) take a plane
B) hitchhike from Cartagena, a colonial city on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, to Panama on a sailing boat
C) from Necocli, a remote Colombian fishing town, with various boats from village to village along the Darién Gap to the Panamericana in Panama
A: not an option
B: hopeless
C: maybe. But what will happen to our bicycles?
How to organize a boat trip?
We have now completed our section in Colombia, 1,400 km, and are in Necocli. Our first crossing to Capurgana is organized, material to secure our bikes and tarpaulins to protect them from the salt water. We still don’t know exactly what to do next. But we are in contact with Hector. He organizes such trips. Or Diego, he’s also organizing something, and Gisell in Capurgana, she doesn’t organize, but tells us…whatever.
Sorry, I don’t want to make fun of them, but my German need for over-organization would like to arrange things beforehand. Above all, to prevent the costs from exploding. And it’s proving difficult. Above all, the language problem is a big one. It’s often not clear to us what the other person wants to say and even a bicycle colleague from Colombia can’t help us. Even he is at a loss with some dialects. So we have to be patient. Still not one of my strengths.
Exit stamp Colombia / Entry stamp Panama
It seems that we get our exit stamp from Colombia in Capurgana, then have to take a boat to Sapzurro and meet Hector there. From there we continue by boat to Obaldia. A small town by the sea in the Darian Gap. There we get the entry stamp for Panama. Then we drive to 1 or 2 islands in the Caribbean and from there we go to the harbor in Carti. From there, there is another road that we can take to Panama City. It has gradients of up to 20%, which means pushing uphill (with two people) and letting the brakes cool down from time to time on the way down. Or we could find someone to give us a lift.
I can only hope that we don’t get hit by “The Curse of the Black Pearl” (Pirates of the Caribbean).
Oh man, I really don’t need any more adventures.
Stay tuned, stay online. You’ll hear from us again when we’re in Panama City.
While I’m writing this post Hector made us a new offer which is far too expensive and he plays kind of games like: “I organized the tour only for you” (never asked for it, just wanted to go on a regular tour) or “I’m actually busy with lots of customers” (it is low season, no tourists). Almost 20% more then the price he offers on his website is too much. So we are still searching for a trip.
What is just an adventure for us is a fight for survival for many.
In the first four months of 2024, more than 30,000 children crossed the Darien Gap, which is 40 percent more than in the same period last year. Of the 30,000 children, 2,000 were unaccompanied, half of them under the age of 5. Younger children are often separated from their relatives during the trek and are only reunited later.
It is estimated that 800,000 people, including 160,000 children and young people, could cross the jungle in 2024, many of whom are likely to be in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
When crossing the Darién Gap, migrants face uncontrolled abuse by criminal groups, sexual violence, physical and mental health damage and worse. Between January 2021 and March 2023, Panamanian authorities found 124 bodies on the route, most of them by drowning, but this is believed to be only a fraction of the actual deaths as many go unreported.
From 2019 to 2022, most migrants crossing the Darién were Haitians and Cubans, but in the last two years, Venezuelans have taken the lead, and the number of Ecuadorians trying to flee violence and poverty has also increased significantly. But by no means all the migrants crossing the Darién are Latin American. Chinese, Afghans and Indians are also among them.
Social Media is helping making things worth on the Darién Gap.
Misinformation on social media has exacerbated the growing problem. Thousands of posts – mainly on TikTok, WhatsApp and YouTube – praise the jungle as a viable migration route for a global audience. Viral videos of migrants crossing the divide, often by people smugglers, have downplayed the financial, psychological and physical toll of the journey, garnering millions of views with the help of aggressive algorithms. In 2023, Panamanian authorities attempted to regain control with an awareness campaign titled “Darién is a jungle, not a road”, but its reach was negligible compared to the oversaturated social media platforms it competes with.
Often, villages in the Darién jungle with 100 inhabitants face 2,000 refugees. In addition to the bodies and physical waste, the jungle is now littered with plastic bottles, empty food cans and dirty diapers, contaminating the soil and water with disease and parasites.
The mass movement through the Darién Gap is simultaneously a humanitarian emergency, an environmental disaster, a criminal business and a political crisis, not just nationally.
Just a little information about an area which, at least in Germany, receives very little attention. Understandable, it’s far away. But we are very close to it. I see the refugees and I have no idea how it must feel not to have access to credit cards. Not having a passport like the German one. Well, all I can do is to write about it.
Necocli
We made it here to Necocli with a few strenuous stages. 70-80km. We have no chance of escaping the midday heat with 95% humidity. We talk about how our butts hurt, then about art, then about the delicious breakfast, then about the Paralympics, then about why honey doesn’t flow as fast as water. This helps us not to curse every kilometer, not to always think about the sweat dripping from every pore of our bodies. After 40 km, we take a short drink break every 5 km. This in turn helps to structure the last 40 km. And then we’re there.
Necocli!!!!! The bike parked. Now it’s time to wait and ask around. We’re taking a boat on our first stage to Capurgana on September 12.
Until everything is organized, I snap a few bananas and whatever else I come across.
And the water bottle for cooling down by wet clothes can be put aside for the time being.
First visit to the beach on the Caribbean Sea. Somehow different here than expected. Less Caribbean travel brochure flair, more “who can turn up the music loudspeakers most”. I search in vain for wooden legs, eye patches, parrots or hooked hands. Nor do we find the photo wallpaper of our youth in the party cellars. And the water seems to be pretty murky.
Well, maybe we’ll go and look for a Bacardy Rum. It will probably be available. And maybe the alcohol will help to calm the brain after all these stories and planning.
Some more impressions from our last days cycling in Colombia before we reached the corner to the Darién Gap.
