Darien

The largest protected area in Central America; the Darién Gap is the only stretch of the Pan-American Highway never built

Area

5,790 km²

Protection category

UICN II

Parque nacional — what the IUCN categories mean

Declared in

1980

Region

Central America (Colombian border)

Climate

Tropical

World Heritage

Plan your visit

Area: 5,790 km²

Highlight

The largest protected area in Central America; the Darién Gap is the only stretch of the Pan-American Highway never built

Declared in 1980, it is the largest protected area in the whole of Central America and Panama, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981. Its impenetrable forest makes up the Darién Gap, the only stretch along the whole length of the Pan-American Highway — which otherwise runs almost unbroken from Alaska to Argentina — that has never been paved, leaving a gap of more than 100 km with no road between Panama and Colombia, for reasons both ecological and security-related. In recent years the Darién forest has also become one of the busiest and most dangerous overland migration routes in the world, crossed on foot by hundreds of thousands of people heading north each year.