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Panama | Tranquilo Bay Eco Adventure Lodge | Birding Western Panama

Panama | Tranquilo Bay Eco Adventure Lodge | Birding Western Panama

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Highlights

  • Golden-collared Manakin leks
  • Nicaraguan Seed Finch
  • Snowy Cotinga
  • Stub-tailed Spadebill
  • Three-Wattled Bellbird

Overview

Tranquilo Bay has listed over 200 species of birds on-sight and over 500 from our daily excursions to nearby bird-rich environments. Bocas del Toro, Panama is geologically gifted, creating extreme species diversity; there are an incredible variety of ecosystems, habitats and altitudinal zones only a short distance from the lodge. Our guides are passionate about observing wildlife, excellent at spotting as well as identification and frequently work with bird watching groups and individuals with birding specific itineraries.

Other tours by Tranquilo Bay

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Ethics

At Terra Incognita we support tours that do good in the world. They must help conserve the environment, support local people and provide educational opportunities for guests and staff, or be actively working to improve in these areas.

What conservation activities do you support through the tour, and your wider operations?

At Tranquilo Bay, eco tourism isn’t just a catchy marketing phrase used to attract guests; it’s a way of life. We want to preserve the natural resources around us in order to maintain our eco adventure lodge for the long term and to pass on our legacy to our children – our guests come to Tranquilo Bay to see the natural resources that Bocas del Toro and Panama have to offer if we do not work to preserve them our business and our children’s future has a limited life span.

We painstakingly developed our secluded get-away for five years. During that time, we lived primitively in the jungle at the future site of the lodge, as we conducted research that would help us create an eco-friendly destination that protects and preserves the environment, while offering guests unparalleled access to nature at its natural best.

We work with various international and national agencies, which are working to preserve the flora and fauna of Bocas del Toro. We are also working to identify new species of insects we find here at Tranquilo Bay with the appropriate experts.

We do what we can to educate the public at large about what Panama and Bocas del Toro have to offer through a variety of websites, articles, etc. which are updated on a regular basis.

We work with scientists as they study the wildlife here in Bocas del Toro. We sponsored a Fulbright Scholar who studied the monkeys on Bastimentos. We are working with a graduate student who is studying the red frogs of Bastimentos. We are in the process of acquiring approval to do DNA research on Tarpon along with an agency in Florida, USA.

How does the tour support local people?

We employ local people and in the process of taking tours these employees are learning the bird species as well as the items explained in our sustainability practice mentioned above.

Tranquilo Bay supports the Panamanian economy by employing local personnel and purchasing locally made goods. We are working to educate our employees to help them grow into positions of greater responsibility.
We volunteer as the Vigilantes de Bastimentos in order to help the Panamanian government agencies enforce the various environmental laws and we provide gasoline or transportation for these agencies to make their inspections.

We worked with the Salt Creek indigenous community to create a reserve (including a management plan) adjacent to Bastimentos National Marine Park. This reserve will protect the trees, which provide roofing to this indigenous community and keep the area from ever being developed.

We volunteer in the Bastimentos National Marine Park in various ways.Our recreational activities tread lightly on the land and the ocean. We work with several indigenous communities. These communities provide us guides on our excursions and prepare trails for tourist use to get a feel for indigenous life in Bocas del Toro.

We are members of Adesbo, a local NGO, and serve on the Environmental Subcommittee to help preserve the natural resources of Bocas del Toro.
Renee H. Kimball serves on the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Tourism of Bocas del Toro.
Renee H. Kimball was President of the Bocas Sustainable Tourism Alliance, which was a destination management organization for Bocas del Toro, for about four years from 2009 – 2012.
We are members of APTSO. We work with APTSO’s board of directors to increase the reach of APTSO.
We have supported BESO, a local organization that supports the children of Bocas del Toro, by providing excursions during low season at Tranquilo Bay, which are auctioned off for this charity.

What type of environmental education activities do you incorporate into your tour?

We educate our guests on each of our tours, excursions, and activities about the flora and fauna they encounter. If something is endangered or could use specific support, then we let them know how they might help.

Rate & Write a Review

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  1. Linette Mansberger – Bocas del Toro Archipelago March 2018 (with Victor Emanuel Nature Tours).
    Quality of Tour

    Value for Money

    Conservation Efforts by Operator

    Environmental Education Provided to Guests

    Tour Support for Local People

    Visiting Swan Cay never grows old. I have visited four times and am always amazed at the beauty of the location and the gracefulness of the red-billed tropicbirds soaring directly in front of us. It is a great ending to a day that is spent on a quiet canal where kingfishers and herons are plentiful and specialty birds like the Nicaraguan seed finch are found.

    Tranquilo Bay has excellent organization. The delicious meals, the luxury of the cabanas, the welcoming ambience of the owners and other employees, and the lush tropical surroundings are all enhanced by how well the lodge is run.

    Don’t miss this tropical paradise and all that the staff at Tranquilo Bay have to offer. You will feel welcomed, safe, enthralled, and forever glad that you visited!

    4 years ago

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Company Name

Tranquilo Bay

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About Company

It is our sincere hope that all of our guests feel like family when they are on vacation at Tranquilo Bay. We try to give each of our guests the individual attention they deserve while they are staying with us. Each person’s experience is unique.

Jim & Renée Kimball and Jay Viola have been close friends for many years. We all wanted to do something off the beaten path. Working in Houston, Texas for over 10 years gave us time to research different parts of the world and fall in love with Bocas del Toro, Panama.

Jim and Jay came to Panama in 1999 and 2000 respectively to build the eco lodge. They have overseen the physical development of the resort every step of the way. Renée supported the cause from Houston working on the soft side of the resort's development.

Jim brought Renée and son Tres to Bocas full time in September 2004. The Kimball’s daughter Boty was born in Panama in 2006. The Kimballs live on site at Tranquilo Bay. Jim and Renée both work on the lodge’s operations.

Jay’s family, including son Scott, joined Jay and the rest of the crew in Bocas in September 2006. Jay and his wife had a second son, Patrick here in Panama in 2008. Jay and his boys live on site at Tranquilo Bay.

We have a variety of staff members to meet your needs at Tranquilo Bay. The staff to guest ratio varies between 1:1 and 1:3 depending upon the season. Our full-time biologists, Ramon and Natalia, provide you with lots of information about all of the nature and wildlife found within Bocas del Toro. We also have our resident dogs, Fula and Chola, who do what they can to improve your stay with us.

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Group size

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renee@tranquilobay.com
www.tranquilobay.com

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    About Terra Incognita

    We believe that ecotourism can be a powerful force for good in the world, and seek to promote the best examples of ecotourism worldwide.

    Our mission is to empower a global community that travels for good.

    Our vision is a world where tourism drives positive change for people and wildlife.

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    • Reconciling man with nature through ethical wildlife tours
    • Take care of your neighborhood – a philosophy for ecotourism
    • What biodiversity means in the Mediterranean region and beyond
    • Putting indigenous communities first on the Kokoda Track
    • Travellers seek wellness for people and planet post-Covid – Neophron Tours

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