The DariÃÆ' Â © n Gap is a pause on the Pan-American Highway consisting of large swamps and undeveloped swathes of Panama from the Æ' © n Province of Central America and the northern Department of ChocÃÆ'³ Colombia in the South America. The gap starts at Yaviza, Panama and ends in Turbo, Colombia, and is 106 km (66 miles) long. Road construction through this area is expensive and environmental costs are high. The political consensus in favor of road construction has not yet emerged.
Geography Gap From the side on the Colombian side is dominated mainly by the river delta of the Atrato River, which creates a flat swampland at least 80 km (50 miles) wide, half of this swamp. The SerranÃÆ'a del BaudÃÆ' ext range extends along the Pacific coast of Colombia and extends to Panama. The Panamanian side, in sharp contrast, is a mountainous rainforest, with terrain reaching from 60 m (197 ft) on the valley floor to 1,845 m (6,053 ft) at the highest peak (Cerro Tacarcuna, in Serrana del DariÃÆ' Â © n).
Video Darién Gap
Jalan Raya Pan-American
The Pan-American Highway is a road system measuring approximately 30,000 km (19,000 miles) long across North America, Central, and South America, with the only exception of the NÃ © n Gap. On the South America side, Highway ends in Turbo, Colombia near 8Ã, Â ° 6? N 76Ã, Â ° 40? W . On the Panama side, the end of the road is the city of Yaviza on 8Ã, Â ° 9? N 77Ã, Â ° 41? W . This marks a straight-line separation of about 100 km (60 mi). Among them are swamps and forests.
Efforts have been made over the decades to improve this lost relationship on Pan-American Highway. Planning began in 1971 with the help of US funding, but this was discontinued in 1974 after concerns raised by environmentalists. Another attempt to build roads began in 1992, but in 1994 a UN agency reported that roads, and subsequent developments, would cause widespread environmental damage. The reasons mentioned include proof that DariÃÂÂ n Gap has prevented the spread of sick livestock to Central and North America, who have not seen foot and mouth disease since 1954, and since at least the 1970s this has been an important factor in preventing a the path that connects via DariÃÆ'Â n Gap. Embera-Wounaan and Guna also expressed concern that the road will bring the potential for their cultural erosion.
Many people, groups, indigenous peoples, and governments are opposed to completing parts of the highway. Opposition reasons include protecting the rainforest, which contains the spread of tropical diseases, protecting the livelihoods of indigenous peoples in the area, preventing drug trafficking and related violence, and preventing foot and mouth disease from entering North America. The extension of the highway as far as Yaviza resulted in severe deforestation along the highway route in a decade.
One of the proposed options, in a study by Bio-Pacifico, is a brief ferry connection from Colombia to a new ferry port in Panama, with an existing Panama highway extension that will complete the highway without violating this environmental issue. Another idea is to use a combination of bridges and tunnels to avoid environmentally sensitive areas.
Maps Darién Gap
Inside the gap
People
The DiÃÆ'Â n Gap is home to Embera-Wounaan and Kuna (and former houses of the Cueva people before their extermination in the 16th century). The trip is often done by rowing boat (piragua). On the Panama side, La Palma is the provincial capital and major cultural center. Other mestizo population centers include Yaviza and El Real. The DiÃÆ'Â n Gap has a population reported at 1,700 in 1980. Corn, cassava, plantain and banana are the staple crops wherever the land is developed.
Natural resources
The two main national parks are in DariÃÆ'Â n Gap: DariÃÆ'Â Â n National Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional © © Ã © n ) in Panama and Los KatÃÆ'os National Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional de Los KatÃÆ'os ) in Colombia. The Forests OfÃÆ'Â Â Â Â Ã Â Ã Â Ã Â Ã Â n Gap has many cedrela and mahogany cover at one time, but many of these trees are removed by lumberjacks.
From à © n National Park covers about 5,790 square kilometers of land and was founded in 1980. It is the largest national park in Central America.
Crossing FromÃÆ' Â © n Gap
Gaps can be moved by off-road vehicles that attempt intercontinental travel. The first post-colonial expedition to DariÃÆ'Â n was the Marsh Darien Expedition in 1924-25, supported by several major sponsors, including the Smithsonian Institution.
The first vehicle to cross the Gap was with Land Rover La Cucaracha CariÃÆ' Â ± osa (The Affectionate Cockroach) and Jeep from the Trans-DariÃÆ' Â © n Expedition of 1959-60, headed by Amado AraÃÆ'ºz (Panama) , his wife Reina Torres de AraÃÆ'ºz, former Air Service Specialist Richard E. Bevir (UK), and Terence John Whitfield (Australia) engineer. They left Chepo, Panama, on February 2, 1960 and reached QuibdÃÆ'³, Colombia, on June 17, 1960, averaging 201 m (220 per day) per hour for 136 days. They travel far into the vast Atrato River.
In December 1960, on a motorcycle journey from Alaska to Argentina, the Danny Liska adventurer attempted to transit DariÃÆ' Â © n Gap from Panama to Colombia. Liska was forced to leave his motorcycle and continue across the Gap by boat and on foot. In 1961, a team of three 1961 Chevrolet Corvairs and several support vehicles departed from Panama. The group is sponsored by Dick Doane Chevrolet (Chevrolet Chicago dealer) and Chevrolet General Motors division. After 109 days they reached the Colombian Border with two Corvairs, the third had been left in the forest. This is the first crossing by a standard two-wheel passenger car. This has been documented by Jam Handy Productions movie along with an article in the Automobile Quarterly magazine (Volume 1 number 3, from fall 1962).
A pair of Range Rovers were used on the British Trans-American Expedition in 1972 led by John Blashford-Snell, who claimed to be the first vehicle-based expedition to cross the two continents of North America to the south through DariÃÆ'Â n Gap. The expedition crosses Rawa Atrato in Colombia with cars on special inflatable rafts carried behind the vehicle. However, they received great support from the British Army. The Blashford-Snell Book, Something Lost Behind the Range (Harper Collins) has several chapters on the expedition DariÃÆ' Â © n. Hundred Days Darien , a book written by Russell Braddon in 1974, also narrates this expedition.
The first crossing over land (the other using boats for some parts) of the Pass was the English cyclist Ian Hibell, who drove from Cape Horn to Alaska between 1971 and 1973. Hibell took a direct route south-to-northward, including crossings across Atrato Swamp in Colombia. Hibell completed his Gap crossing accompanied by two New Zealand cycling friends who rode from Cape Horn, but none of them continued with Hibell to Alaska. The "Cape Horn to Alaska" expedition from Hibell formed part of his 1984 book Into the Remote Places .
The first motorcycle crossing by Robert L. Webb in March 1975. Another four-wheeled intersection was in 1978-1979 by Mark A. Smith and his team. Smith and his team drove a 400 km (250 mi) gap in 30 days using five Jeep CJ-7s. They travel for miles to the Atrato River by barge. Smith has released his book, Driven by the Dream , documenting the crossing.
The first automatic crossing on the mainland in 1985-87 by Loren Upton and Patty Mercier in CJ-5 Jeep, traveled 741 days to cover 125 miles (201 km). This intersection is documented in the 1992 Guinness Book of Records . Ed Culberson was the first to follow the entire Pan-American highway including the proposed route DariÃÆ' Â © n Gap on a motorcycle, the BMW R80G/S. From Yaviza he first followed Loren Upton's team but would go solo right before Pucuru, hire his own guide.
In the 1990s, the gap was briefly united by the ferry service, provided by Crucero Express, but the company ceased operations in 1997.
There are several famous crossings on foot. Sebastian Snow crossed the Gap with Wade Davis in 1975 as part of his unbroken journey from Tierra del Fuego to Costa Rica. This journey is documented in his 1976 book The Rucksack Man and in 1985 Wade Davis's book The Serpent and the Rainbow . In 1981, George Meegan passed a gap on a similar journey. He also started in Tierra del Fuego and finally ended up in Alaska. His 1988 biography, The Longest Walk , describes the journey and includes a 25-page chapter on his robbery through the Gap. In 2001, as part of the Goliath Expedition - a journey to forge an unbroken path from the end of South America to the Bering Strait and back to his home in England - Karl Bushby (England) crossed the pass on foot, using no transportation or ships , from Colombia to Panama.
In 1979, evangelist Arthur Blessitt crossed the gap with a 12-foot wooden cross, a journey confirmed by Guinness World Records as part of the "world's longest pilgrimage" for Christ. Traveling alone with a machete plus a backpack full of water bottles, hammocks, bible, notepad, lemon drops and Blessitt's signature Jesus sticker that says "Smile! God Loves You", Blessitt explains his experience in a book, The Cross , and in full-length movies of the same name.
Most of the DariÃÆ'  © n Gap area crossings have been from Panama to Colombia. In July 1961 three students, Carl Adler, James Wirth, and Joseph Bellina, crossed from San Miguel Bay to Puerto Obaldia in Parita Bay (near Colombia) and finally to Mulatupu in what became known as San Blas and now identified as Kuna Yala. The journey across from nà © n is by banana boat, piraqua, and walking through the river Tuira (La Palma and El Real de Santa Maria), RÃÆ'o Chucunaque (Yaviza), Rio Tuquesa (Choco Chief Trade Office) - Choco Indian village) and SerranÃÆ'a del DariÃÆ'  © n.
In 1985, the Raleigh Project, which evolved from the Drake Project in 1984 and in 1989 into Raleigh International, sponsored an expedition that also crossed DariÃÆ' Â © n beach to the coast. Their path is similar to the 1961 route above, but vice versa. The expedition began at The Bay of Caledonia in SerranÃÆ'a del DariÃÆ' Â © n and followed RÃÆ'o Membrillo eventually to RÃÆ'o Chucunaque and Yaviza, roughly following the route taken by Balboa in 1513.
Between the early 1980s and mid-1990s, the British adventure travel company, Encounter Overland, organized a 2-3 week trekking trip through Gap From Monte to Panama or vice versa. This trip uses any combination of available transportation: jeep, bus, boat, and of course lots of walking, with tourists bringing their own inventory. These groups consist of male and female participants from a number of nationalities and age groups, and are led by experienced travel leaders. A leader continued his journey from nine DariÃÆ'Â n Gap and then acted as a logistics guide and coordinator for the BBC's Natural History Unit during the filming of a documentary entitled A Tramp in the Darien, which was screened on the BBC in 1990-91.
A complete ground crossing of the rainforest FromÃÆ'Â Â © n on foot and river boats (ie, from the last road in Panama to the first street in Colombia) became more dangerous in the 1990s due to the Colombian conflict. The Colombian part of the rain forest DariÃÆ'Â n in the Katios Park region eventually fell under the control of the armed group. Subsequently, fighters from Colombia even entered Panama, occupied several villages of Panama forest and kidnapped or killed residents and travelers. Just as hostilities began to deteriorate, Andrew Egan, 18, crossed the Rain Forest FromÃÆ'Â Â © n, detailing the journey in the book Crossing the Darien Gap.
In 2013, the coastal route on the eastern side OfÃÆ' Â © n Isthmus has become relatively safe. This is by motor boat across the Bay of Uraba from Turbo to CapurganÃÆ'¡, and then jump to Sapzurro beach and climb from there to La Miel (Panama). Any route inland through DariÃÆ'Â| n remains very dangerous. In June 2017, CBS journalist Adam Yamaguchi filmed a smuggler who took refugees on a nine-day trip from Colombia to Panama via DariÃÆ'Â n.
Migrants from Africa have been known to cross DariÃÆ' Â © n Gap as a migration method to the United States. This route may require flights to Ecuador (take advantage of the nation's liberal visa policy), and try to cross the gap on foot. Journalist Jason Motlagh was interviewed by Sacha Pfeiffer on the NPR syndicated national radio show On Point in 2016 about his work following migrants through DariÃÆ' Â © n Gap.
Armed conflict and abduction
The DariÃÆ'Â n Gap is subject to the presence and activity of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which has committed murder, kidnapping and human rights abuses during decades of resistance to the Colombian government. FARC rebels are present on both sides of Colombia and Panama border. In 2000, two British travelers, Tom Hart Dyke and Paul Winder, were kidnapped by suspected FARC guerrillas in DariÃÆ'Â n Gap while hunting a rare orchid, a plant highly favored by Dyke. Both were held for nine months and threatened with death before being released unharmed and without ransom paid. Dyke and Winder then documented their experiences in The Cloud Garden and an episode of Locked Up Abroad .
Other political victims from DariÃÆ'Â n Gap include three New Tribe missionaries, who disappeared from Pucuro on the Panama side in 1993.
In 2003, Robert Young Pelton, on assignment for National Geographic Adventure magazine, and two traveling companions, Mark Wedeven and Megan Smaker, were held for a week by the Colombian Self-Defense Forces, a pro-government paramilitary organization, in a published incident.
From May 2013, Colombian neo-paramilitary forces are reportedly very active in DariÃÆ'Ân n around the Los Katios National Park and Cuenca Cacarica. In 2013, Swedish backpacker Jan Philip Braunisch disappeared in the area after leaving the town of Riosucio, Colombia, with the intention of trying to cross on foot to Panama, via Cuenca Cacarica. The remains of his bones were found in June 2015 with evidence that he had been killed with a shot to the head. The FARC confessed to killing him, having confused him for a foreign spy.
See also
- Darien scheme
- Bay OfÃÆ'Â © n
- Lionel Wafer
References
External links
- "Pan-America Highway and the Environment"
- "Nature: Life, Death, and Tourism in DariÃÆ' Â © n Gap", 2013
- Ã, "Darien". EncyclopÃÆ'Â|dia Britannica (issue 11). 1911. Ã,
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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