Sambu

This July 2008 trip to Panama will take me into the province of Darien on the country's eastern side. It's Panama's most sparsely populated province and without argument its most notorious. It's also the least visited with one report estimating about 700 visitors annually spending just $300,000.

I'll be arriving into Panama at Tocumen International Airport and the next day taking off from Marcos A. Gelabert Airport, formerly Albrook Air Force Base, on an Air Panama prop job. I'll arrive into the Darien town Sambu mid-day on the fourth-of-July and meet my host(s). The Bed & Breakfast I'll be staying at is just a few hundred yards from the air strip in the town of Sambu also known as Sabalo.

Sambu is named after the Rio Sambu and located on the southeaster portion of the province, more towards the Pacific Side. The river runs east to west and empties into the Pacific Ocean at the Bay of San Miguel where Balboa is said to have looked upon when he discovered the Pacific Ocean. Before reaching the bay the river meanders back and forth like a snake and from the air it's a spectacular sight.

Along the Rio Sambu are the villages of the Embera-Wounaan, an indiginous group who are said to have migrated from Columbia and for many years called the Choco. They run the area like the Kuna run the San Blas in established comarcas (regions). Carmacas are similar to Indian reservations in the U.S.. The Comarca De Kuna Yala was created in 1938 after a short but bloody rebellion in 1925. The Embera and Wounan comarca was established in 1983. I do not need permission to enter or may have it be default by being the guest of Michael Harrington.

Michael and his manager Mabel will be my host. He's an American who has lived between Panama City and the Darien for twenty years. He married a Darienista - a black descendant of slaves brought in by the Spanish to work the gold mines. Sambu has mostly Darienistas. Proper terminology and identification will come later.

Michael is a somewhat gruff but enterprising middle-aged man who built Sambu Hause after getting permission from the chief and flying in every scrap of material. The finished work is beautiful. If he is there, and I hope he is, we'll talk business about a second location.

I feel confident that I'll be far and away from the dangers emanating from Columbia. The Sambu region is really off the beaten track and arrival is by plane or boat. Compare that with Yaviza at the end of the Panamerican Highway, an area that has seen heavy deforestation and is rife with criminal activity. The highway and Yaviza straddle the center of the province and leads right into Darien National Park. By contrast where I'm going is a more preserved and less trafficked. Satellite pictures show it appearing to be more lush in vegetation. At least this is what I imagine.

I'll fly back to Panama in lieu of a commercial boat that comes and goes monthly - but wouldn't that be a blast? Then visit Ma. Together we'll hangout and maybe travel to Chitre in the Herrera province.