Smithsonian Institute of Tropical Research

The Smithsonian Institute of Tropical Research has been researching the plants and wild life in Panama for around 80 years.

Their major research centers in Panama are

• The Galeta Marine Laboratory is on the Caribbean Coast of Panama, in the Province of Colon. Isla Galeta was formerly used by the US Intelligence service until 1967, this has been transformed into a world class facility for international scientists to do valuable studies of mangrove habitats, coral formations and the 22 species of tropical birds found on the island.
• The Centro de Exhibiciones Marinas on the Causeway in Panama City contains, among other exhibits, two aquariums that show the differences between fish in the Pacific and Caribbean Seas. The fish from the Caribbean are the more colourful.
• Barro Colorado. Another of Panama’s most popular ecotourism destinations is the Barro Colorado wildlife refuge at Lake Gatun, also a site of ongoing research by Smithsonian scientists.
• Bocas del Toro - Bocas del Toro province is a magnificent natural region with humid tropical forest, swamp forest and banana plantations in the terrestrial habitats and mangrove forests, seagrass meadows and coral reefs in the marine coast. All this ecosystems present unique characteristics that integrated to the geological past and cultural diversity make a special environment for research and education projects.
• The arboretum, located at STRI’s headquarters in Panama City , is home to a range of ecological interactions.
• STRI has installed canopy access systems, which consist of tower construction cranes with specially adapted gondolas, in two tropical forests: a seasonally dry forest at the Metropolitan Nature Park of Panama City and a moist forest at Fort Sherman on Panama ’s Atlantic coast.

Panama is an incredibly ecologically diverse country with low levels of tourism (to date). It has an enormous potential for the expansion of ecotourism and ecotourism adventures. Panama is becoming one of the most exciting ecotourism destinations in the world.

Smithsonian Institute for Tropical Research web site

Panama Ecotourism