Sons of the Tundra

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Well, another successful and enjoyable Sons of The Tundra trip is now history. On October 5th, 2005 a hale and hearty group of 15 lads headed south to Panama in search of the elusive Panamanian tundra.

We had a wonderful visit touring the Panama canal, exploring Lake Gat'un which is the primary reservoir for the canal and exploring within the Gamboa rainforest area. Our visit to lake Gat'un included a boat trip through the coves and inlets that harbor countless species of plants and animals. This is a protected area which is the geographic heart of the Panama canal. Among the wildlife species that we saw were sloths, howler monkeys, white faced capuchin monkeys, crocodiles and a wide variety of wild birds.

While cruising in the lake we watched numerous ships come in and out of view as they navigated the main channel of the lake.

We then ventured through the Panama canal ourselves on a small boat working our way through the locks watching as the giant tankers and cruise ships followed us through this unique waterway.We also watched from a land station immediately adjacent to the canal as the various tugs and locomotives maneuvered the giant ships through the lock chambers of the waterway.

Another delightful adventure was a canopy ride at tree-top level through the rainforest.This was a unique venture impacted by a brief but dramatic encounter by one of our cable cars with a large tree resulting in what Ray Davis and Romeo Parent described as a "near-death experience". While the 2 lads did expand somewhat upon realty it was quite an exciting and stimulating few minutes as the tree and cable cars tugged in opposite directions until the swaying cable car prevailed and the tree went crashing to the forest floor.

We took a rail journey on the newly restored Panama Canal Railway along the east bank of the canal offering an intimate view of the waterway and the rainforest that blanket its shores

We also encountered an interesting and eclectic group of folks along the way including Kenny, our talented tour guide, Yara our cable car hostess who experienced the trauma of the near-death encounter first hand, George -Of-The-Jungle, our waiter at the Gamboa Rainforest Resort, two fun loving couples from Florida and Ohio who had a special interest in fishing and the moon, Holly and Leslie , the crack public relations staff for the Gamboa Rainforest Resort and other "sun destinations" and Jo, a delightful writer and photographic editor from Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

We ate well, made lots of new and interesting friends and laughed one heck of a lot! It was a great trip!