Gamboa, Panama

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Gamboa was a township of the old Panama Canal Zone. It still exists as a virtual ghost town, maintained but with maybe ten percent of its buildings inhabited.

It is located on a sharp bend of the Chagres River where it becomes Lake Gatun. South of Gamboa, the canal leaves the Chagres and proceeds into Gailard Cut where the canal cuts through the Continental Divide. Thus, though Gamboa is closer to the Pacific Side of Panama, its watershed is on the Atlantic side. A single lane wooden bridge crosses the Chagres and is the only road access to Gamboa. This bridge is still in use today.

It is the primary headquarters of the Dredging Division of the Panama Canal Company.

Taking a boat from Gamboa is the primary way to reach the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) at Barro Colorado Island.

In the days of the old Canal Zone, Gamboa was farther from the coast than any of the other townships, and had its own shops and gas station. A restaurant "clubhouse" was located atop a bluff ("Gamboa Ridge") overlooking the canal, and a 9 hole golf course was built here. Many of the new arrivals to the Canal Zone were initially assigned housing here. Because of its distance, it was less desirable than many than the townships closer to the coast. Over time as the Canal Zone began to transfer operations to Panama following the 1977 treaty, some of the services offered in Gamboa were shut down as well. The Golf Course became a boy scout camp for several years. It is now part of the Rainforest Resort, a hotel offering access to the nearby jungle.

Because of its location at the "end of the road" (to get to the Atlantic Side from Gamboa you must first return to the Pacific side), Gamboa is adjacent to significant tracts of relatively undisturbed rainforest. A trail that follows an old pipeline ("Pipeline Road") is considered one of the best birding hikes in Panama.

The Las Cruces Trail passes near Gamboa, though parts of it are now underwater.

[edit] In popular culture

In the movie The Tailor of Panama the character played by Pierce Brosnan stays at the Gamboa Rainforest Resort, and has a meal at a waterside restaurant in Gamboa. In the background of opening shot of this sequence, you can see the wooden bridge that leads to Gamboa, with an ocean liner behind it.

Gamboa Rainforest Resort is a 5 star hotel, now located in Gamboa. Although the town has less than 500 people living in it, and 2 indian reservations (embera and wounaa), the Resort, is the main attraction to anything in the city. It is home to caymans, crocodiles, iguanas, and hundreds of bird species.