Cerro Hoya

The Azuero Peninsula has been cleared for cattle more thoroughly than almost anywhere else in Panama, and Cerro Hoya in the far southwestern corner is what is left: around thirty-two thousand hectares of forest running from the coast up to just over a thousand metres. Its isolation produced endemics, including a subspecies of the spider monkey and the Azuero parakeet, both found only on this peninsula and both in trouble. Access is genuinely difficult, on rough tracks or by boat along the coast, and there is almost no infrastructure. It is one of the least visited national parks in the country.

Highlights

• The last Azuero forest - the peninsula's only significant surviving block.
• Azuero endemics - the local spider monkey and parakeet.
• The coastal edge - forest running down to empty Pacific beaches.
• The isolation - among the least visited parks in Panama.

When to go

December to April is the dry season and the only realistic access window; the tracks become impassable in the wet. Guides are arranged in Tonosí, Mariato or the villages at the park edge. Allow days rather than hours.

What to expect

This is a genuine expedition: rough four-wheel drive tracks or a boat along an exposed coast, no facilities, no marked trails and no guides waiting. Almost nobody goes. Deforestation continues at the boundary. The endemic species are rare enough that seeing them is unlikely.

Nearby

Tonosí is the eastern approach; Mariato is the Veraguas side.

Key facts