For all but the craziest among us (more on them later), driving through the Darien Jungle overland is not within the realm of possibility. But that doesn’t mean you can’t travel to the end of the road in the Darien (sometimes spelled Darién) and visit a town called Yaviza where the pavement of the Pan-American Highway stops and ass-whupping jungle begins.
Our truck entering Darien Province, home of the Darien Jungle, on our way to the end of the Pan-American Highway in Panama.
The only break in the Pan-American Highway
The Darien Jungle, which straddles the border between Panama and Colombia, covers 10,000 square miles (26,000 square km) just on the Panamanian side. The region’s dense vegetation and marshy expanses create the only break in the Pan-American Highway which otherwise runs around 16,000 miles (25,750 km) from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Ushuaia in Argentina along the length of the Americas.
The 60 mile (96 km) break in the action caused by the Darien Jungle is called the Darien Gap and it’s a pain in the ass for overland travelers like us who aren’t certifiably insane and, therefore, are forced to ship our vehicles around the Darien Gap from Panama to Colombia rather than driving through the jungle.
Welcome to the town of Yaviza where the Darien Jungle forms the only break in the Pan-American Highway.
Oh, sure. Some crazies have attempted to drive through the Darien Jungle. A handful have even made it starting with the Trans-Darien Expedition in 1960 during which a husband and wife team spent five months hacking a “road” through the Darien Jungle and averaging about 600 feet (200 meters) per hour. Good times.
It was 12 more years before another team made it through the Darien Jungle, but just barely. Back axles on Range Rovers driven by members of the British Trans-Americas Expedition broke and new parts had to be air dropped in. Clothing rotted on their bodies from the humidity. About half the team suffered serious injury and illness.
In 1975 some dudes on Rokon motorcycles tried four times before getting through the Darien Jungle overland. In 2015 a fresh crew of crazies plans to attempt to drive through the Darien Jungle and for US$4,400 you can join them. Send a postcard.
A bit anticlimactic, perhaps, but that’s the end of the Pan-American Highway in Panama.
Mother Nature’s border
“Why don’t they just close the Darien Gap by connecting the highway through the Darien Jungle?” you may wonder. First of all, building a road through a jungle is never easy. Think about it. Then consider the fact that the remote Darien Jungle has proven to be a good hideout for all kinds of bad guys who have moved in over the years and they don’t take too kindly to bulldozers and work crews getting in the way of their lucrative, totally illegal business. So, if the snakes don’t get you the narco traffickers and FARC guerrillas will.
This bridge in the town of Yaviza goes over the Rio Chicanaque, the longest river in Panama, and marks the end of the Pan-American Highway and the beginning of the Darien Gap created by the road less Darien Jungle.
There are also political reasons why the Darien Jungle remains a vast, road less expanse: it’s Mother Nature’s border and a really excellent buffer zone between Central America and South America. In the early 2000’s Alvaro Uribe, then President of Colombia, proposed a road through the Darien Jungle to complete the Pan-Am and make trade between nations easier. That idea obviously never got off the ground and we wouldn’t be surprised if there’s never a road through the Darien.
Someday there will be a bus station at the end of the road in Yaviza, Panama. Someday.
Drive to the end of the road in the Darien
We were in Darien Provence at the end of four days of hiking in the Darien Jungle with Panama Exotic Adventures. Rather than return immediately to Panama City, we decided to drive to the end of the road in the Darien.
Yaviza at the end (or beginning) of the Pan-American Highway in Panama is a port town and villagers bring there produce, including these plantains, to be distributed to other parts of the country.
The road continues until you reach a town called Yaviza, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to get to. It’s not the predictably lousy quality of the road that makes this little drive hard, it’s the hoops you have to jump through to get there.
Space is money so plantains are packed into boats like sardines in Yaviza at the beginning of their journey to other parts of Panama.
As we mentioned before, the Darien Jungle has become something of a hot spot for illicit activity. Therefore, Panamanian officials are anxious to keep tabs (as best they can) on who goes into the region. This means that everyone, including day tripping tourists, have to follow the rules and regulations of Servicio Nacional de Fronteras (Senafront), Panama’s border police.
We’ve never seen produce packed more precisely than these plantains on their way out of Yaviza.
Senafront officers control access to the Darien region with multiple checkpoints along the Pan-American Highway. At these stops, everyone’s documents are checked and rechecked. At any point a traveler may be turned back.
Luckily, we weren’t turned back though we did have to sweet talk our way past some officials especially when we wanted to park the truck and walk around Yaviza on foot. For some reason officials were worried that we were going to abandon our truck and wander off into the Darien.
Lunch of champions (and everyone else) in Yaviza, Panama where the road less Darien Jungle brings the mighty Pan-American Highway to a screeching halt.
Not that there was much to see in Yaviza where reportedly less than 2,000 people live, but, hey it’s the end of the road.
There’s only one way to go from Yaviza, Panama.
A new way to stay in the Darien
It’s not exactly a hotel boom, but it is worth noting that in 2014 the folks behind Canopy Tower and two other hotels in Panama opened Canopy Camp in the Darien Jungle offering luxury safari tents from South Africa and some of the best bird watching in the country.
In 2014 Canopy Camp opened in the Darién Jungle offering travelers luxury platform tents and plenty of rainforest immersion.
Here’s more about travel in Panama
Here’s more about Adventure Travel in the Americas
See all of our Epic Drives in the Americas
Towns at the dead end of roads are really fascinating to me. I also desire to visit Yaviza when I get to Panama this winter.
Woooo! This brings back memories. Glad you guys made it through the checkpoints. I really want to go back here one day.
As I recall Matthew, that adventure cost you your computer.
Looks like you had some adventure visiting here..
wow, very interesting adventure …
They should bridge the gap as soon as possible. There are numerous roads that go through ecologically sensitive areas without ruining them. A coastal route might be best. Authorities could better patrol the region for smugglers and rebels if a road existed.
Any other opinions on this? Though it WAS a pain in the neck (and the wallet) to get around this roadless stretch with our vehicle, it did add to the adventure of it all and makes the Darien that much more mysterious…
Went there with three Embera native people in 2006. After arriving in Yaviza we went by boat up a couple of of rivers by dugout to an Embera village where we spent a couple of days. We were looking at a timber sale on Embera land. Yaviza at that time was the kind of place where people look you over while deciding if they should steal your watch or your camera and kill you if necessary. We parked in a locked court yard next to a bar. One of the guys knew the owner. I gave the owner 20 or 30 dollars. I don’t think a gringo would want to just drive there, park and leave a vehicle unattended for very long. The jungle is full of howler monkeys in the trees. It’s a wild but very interesting place.
How well I agree Yaviza is a very interesting place. I and my wife and our children lived in Yaviza from 1960 – 1964 Our only daughter was born while there. We were Missionaries to mainly the Choco Indians. Traveled up the Rio Grande, Tuqesa, Rio Chico and Tupisa Rivers taking the Gospel of Jesus to the Choco Indians. Our stay was a very educational time for us and our children. We learned quite a bit of the Empena dialect. One always gains favor with the people when one speaks their language. I’d love to go back for a visit but at 89 years old don’t think I could make it.
What an amazing experience!