Ancón Hill

Ancón Hill is the highest point in Panama City. It is also home to a protected jungle area, and next to the Panama Canal Administration Building. Yes, that’s three reasons to go there! 🙂

It is located centrally, and we got there by bus from the main bus terminal. Our plan was to check out the Panama Canal Administration building first, and then head up the hill in the late afternoon looking for sloths and toucans – yes, apparently they are in there… 🙂

The main reason to visit the admin building, is because there are some famous murals inside which ‘narrate the various stages of the construction, heroism and courage of the people who built the Panama Canal’ (not my words… 🙂 ) Anyway, it’s a pretty cool looking building, and the murals are very dramatic. It is located in the former ‘Canal Zone’ area which used to belong to the United States.

It didn’t take long to check out the murals, and so soon we were on our way up Ancón Hill – it’s about a 45 minute walk to the top. The area around the hill is home to lots of agoutis – they are rodents and they are cute 🙂

It was very serene and peaceful on the hill, and once we were at the top we checked out the views and went looking for wildlife. There is only one small trail at the top, and the rest is a concrete road – so there are limited places where you can look for birds and sloths.

It was really nice at the top, and although we didn’t see a sloth or tons of birds – we did get a few good sightings – including one of our favourites – a toucan! 🙂

The sun was setting as we made our descent of the hill. Even though we hadn’t found a sloth, it had still been a great afternoon. 🙂