The Quetzal Trail

One of the longest and most difficult days that the Paradise Earth team spent in Panama was hiking the Quetzal Trail to Boquete. The Quetzal Trail has been the focus of a lot of controversy in Panama; the former President wanted to pave the trail over Volcan Baru in order to facilitiate travel for economic reasons, but the conservationists were vehemently opposed to such an idea. Aside from destroying a major habit for endangered Queztals, cutting a road where only a footpath currently traverses the volcano would effectively isolate many ground-dwelling species. There are dozens of animals that will not cross a paved road, and the species diversity around Volcan Baru would suffer greatly if the Quetzal Trail were to be paved.

Enjoy this slideshow of images from along the Quetzal Trail; hiking over the top of the volcano made us keenly aware of what we would lose if the Panamanian government were allowed to pave this important piece of the rain forest.