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4 Days Colombian Caribbean Playground: Capurganá, Panama, Turtles

From USD $1,054.75

Duration: 4 Days (approx.)
Location: Capurgana, Capurgana/Colombia
Product code: 4 day Turtles col module

4 fantastic days full of Caribbean beaches, tropical jungles, turtles and afro-Colombian communities.

Day 1: Turtle Watching in the Night

Starting in Acandí you’ll take a short ride on the back of a motorbike for around 15 minutes’ to Playona Beach. Once here you’ll be greeted by your hosts with a coconut freshly opened to provide you with a wonderful rehydrating drink of coconut water. You’ll then be shown to your cabin on the beach to relax and unwind before enjoying a typical lunch from the region. Your hosts are all part of an Afro-Colombian foundation called Mamá Basilia. A non-profit organization dedicated to the survival and conservation of the magnificent Leatherback Turtle.

Dinner will be approximately 7 pm followed by a talk about the Leatherback Turtles and what you can expect in the following tour starting in an hour or so.

The turtles will start awkwardly climbing up the beach to lay their eggs after the sun goes down and will continue throughout the night, and into the small hours of the morning. You’ll get to see these magnificent creatures laying up to 100 eggs in the sand. Some of these will be collected and relocated by members of the foundation to incubate for 60 days in a secure location. Others will simply be left with a marker displaying the date, so foundation members can be ready for when they are ready to hatch.

This is the largest nesting site of Leatherback Turtles in the Caribbean, where between 250-300 females arrive ever year to lay up to 100 eggs each. The season for egg-laying is from February to July, with the incubation period of 60 days. The best time of the year to almost guarantee viewing the turtles is March to June.

Day 2: A Turtle Morning and a Capurgana Day

Depending on the date of your tour you may also wake to enjoy this morning watching hatchlings crawling out of the sand and struggling down the beach to the waiting ocean.

Approximately mid-morning you’ll start making your way to Capurgana and your beachside lodge. Once here you’ll enjoy some lunch and relax with a swim in the ocean, walk along the beach, try a bit of snorkeling, or maybe take a short walk to Aguacate Bay for a swim and some relaxation.

Day 3: Colombia's Sapzurro & across the border to La Miel in Panama

Following breakfast, you’ll be taking a boat to the beautiful small town of Sapzurro. The last settlement on the Colombian side of the border with Panama and a fantastico location to enjoy some beach time along with some of the natural beauty offered by the Darien Jungle at your back. During the tropical rainy season (May to November) you’ll also have the opportunity to take a walk to the Diana Waterfalls, where you’ll also get to hear (and hopefully see) some wonderful howler monkeys.

Following some lunch, you’ll climb up the hill separating the two countries and enjoy a wonderful view into both Colombia and Panama, before making your way down into Panama and into another wonderful small town, called La Miel. Here you’ll enjoy more beach time on this white and sandy beach, along with a relaxing walk through this sleepy Caribbean village, before taking a boat back to your lodge in Capurgana.