Panama emerged a short while ago, in geological terms, and we became a sort of biological land bridge for species of North and South America and the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. This makes our forests really interesting and full of life! In fact, Panama is a native American word that means abundance, and here we have an abundance of fish, butterflies, birds and plenty of biodiversity.

The isthmus of Panama is the narrowest point of the entire continent between the Pacific and the Atlantic – this is why it was chosen for building a canal to join the oceans.

The first to attempt to build the Canal were the French and Lt. Lucien Napoleon Bonaparte Wyse recommended that it be built along what we know today as the Llano-Carti road, which crosses the San Blas Cordillera from north to south. In this area the distance between the two oceans is around 50 km – and the Panama Canal is 80 km from ocean to ocean.

Burbayar is on the summit of the San Blas Cordillera, 22 km from the Atlantic and 14.5 km from the Interamerican Highway to the south.

Even though we are just two and a half hours away from Panama City, we are submerged in a privileged tropical rainforest area which is part of a biological corridor linked to the Nargana Natural Reserve which is itself connected to the Chagres National Park to the west and to the east with the Darien National Park. In Burbayar we are aprt of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (MBC). The MBC goes from the south of Mexico to Panama, including Guatemala, Belice, Honduras, El Salvador, Nucaragua and Costa Rica. The general objective of the MBC is to keep the biological connection of the entire zone in order to avoid forest fragmentation and loss of habitats, flora, fauna and cultures, as well as to assure its sustainable use.

Burbayar is a family lodge coming from the wish to live in 100% natural surroundings and the possibility to share it with the entire world. We wanted to create a sustainable space in natura and to have the opportunity to show it to more people.

Our forest is inhabited by hundreds of species of birds, families of monkeys, coaties, tapirs, agoutis, deer, pumas, jaguars and many other spirits of the forest, as well as majestic trees, ferns, palms, orchids, heliconias... Nature in its full splendour!

With a surface area of just 76,000 square kilometres, Panama is one of the most biodiverse places in the world. In this small natural refuge you will find more than 900 bird species and more than 16,000 butterflies; one of the 25 countries richest in plant species, many still undiscovered; 13 different ecosystems with numerous endemic plant species; more than 10,000 species of coleoptera (beetles); 1,300 orchids. 175 amphibians and 127 types of snake, as well as more than 200 species of mammal, many of them endemic.