Panama City Zoo Anxiously Awaits it's 37 Million Dollar Makeover | Weekly News Roundup, March 3rd, 2017

Panama City Zoo Anxiously Awaits it’s 37 Million Dollar Makeover | Weekly News Roundup, March 3rd, 2017

Mar 3, 2017 | Panama News

Welcome to the Panama Weekly News Roundup! Here’s the latest.

Over 70 Venezuelan Immigrants Stranded on Panama-Costa Rica Border as Officials Ramp Up Controls

Over 70 Venezuelan immigrants are trapped on the border between Costa Rica and Panama after official refused to let them re-enter the country. Most of them reportedly live in Panama, but went to Costa Rica with the intention of reentering with a renewed tourist visa. However, authorities prevented them from entering.

Alfredo Cordoba, Commissioner of the National Immigration Service in Panama’s province of Chiriqui reported that the mass movement of people during the Carnival holiday led them to implement a stricter strategy, as it was clear the Venezuelans were living and working in Panama illegally.

“The computer system that we use for verification determines when people have entered and exited several times in order to renew their six month tourist permits. When that time ends, foreigners must use other alternatives that allow them to legally remain in the national territory.”

Source: The Panama Post

Panama City zoo anxiously awaits it’s 37 Million Dollar makeover

At Panama’s principal zoo the exotic colors of tropical birds are lost in the dark of old, improvised cages, while lush vegetation adorns paths with no wildlife in sight. Summit Municipal Park is a 250-hectare (617-acre) oasis that has largely been neglected by Panama City, which, absorbed in its financial economy, for years seemed to have forgotten the lush tropical forest surrounding it and the innumerable tourism possibilities it offers at just 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the urban area in the leafy Panama Canal basin.

Now, however, the launch of an ambitious project of entertainment, education and environmental conservation promises to make it an attraction no one will want to miss. The master plan, which took a year to design and was presented to the Panama City government last October, will take between five and seven years plus an estimated $37 million to complete, park director Edgar Arauz told EFE.

Start with the most urgent aspect, the plan’s first stage will include laying out a path dubbed “The Living Basin of the Canal,” a walkway that will exhibit endemic Central American vegetation and will be home to most of the 300 animal species currently locked up in the park’s oldest, most run-down cages.

Source: The Costa Rica Star

Spread your wings in Panama

The wild jungle setting of this temperate, Latin American backwoods provides world-class birding and endless wildlife to discover, Suzanne Morphet writes.

The tangled mass of tropical vegetation in front of the veranda of our lodge appeared lifeless half an hour ago. But now birds flit before us, popping in and out of the greenery. Our guide, Tino, hung bananas at the feeder and it’s a magnet. “Is that a dusky-faced tanager on the banana now?” I ask Tino, perhaps a little too confidently. “No, a clay-coloured thrush,” he replies. My friend Julie laughs. “It’s only our first day, Suzanne.”

It is, and besides, we haven’t come to Panama to look at birds. Yet, visiting Panama – and El Valle de Anton in particular – and not looking at birds would be like going to Rome and not poking your head inside a few churches. Impossible.

Source: The Globe and Mail

 

Quintessential Casco Viejo: Panama’s historic, bohemian treasure

Casco Viejo, Panama is the Panama City’s top destination for tourism (as well as the country’s), and there’s little to know discrepancy as to why. Casco Viejo is the historic old city at the southwest end of Panama City, just a few minutes drive from the Canal Zone. Known as just “Casco” to most people, it is the most culturally and historically significant neighborhood in Panama. Here’s more from our latest blog post.

As it is often in the case of urban renewal, there are many misnomers and disagreements about why a neighborhood is changing, and whether or not that’s a good or bad thing. This is completely natural, and always a healthy debate for residents (and even non-resident businesses to have). Casco has always been the cultural center of Panama, even before it was a popular tourist and small business center. Whether or not people realized it was irrelevant. What’s going on now, though, is nothing short than coming out party. The neighborhood now has some of the country’s best restaurants, bars, hotels, residential real estate, and commercial real estate in all of Panama City.

Source: International Relocation Firm Blog

 

International Relocation Firm Staff Writer

International Relocation Firm Staff Writer

As one of the leading Panama Law Firms, and one of the regions most reliable service providers, International Relocation Firm brings a wide range of professional knowledge to our clients needs. Our staff is made up of professional consultants, Panama attorneys and immigration specialists who are experienced in international relocation, and are experts in providing a seamless Panama immigration process.

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