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Azuero Adventures works with the community to offer ecotourism as an alternative source of income to extractive practices like ranching, logging, and commercial fishing.
As the only member of our group to slip and fall spectacularly during the 45-minute walk up the riverbed, I was even more thrilled than the rest when we crested the final hill and saw the waterfall emerge from a fold in the dense green jungle. Little rainbows seemed to cartwheel off the water into the pool below, birds sang in the background, and the whole group buzzed with excitement.
“This place has really special energy,” our guide said, beaming, as he took off his shirt and dove into the water. A few minutes later, sitting on the pool’s ledge with a juicy piece of pineapple, I felt a kind of all-consuming peace that I’ve only experienced a handful of times in my life.
We were in Panama’s Cerro Hoya National Park, a haven for biodiversity that’s home to some of the last original forest on the entire Azuero Peninsula. Part of the park lies in the Los Santos province, which sees the hottest temperatures of the country and is considered extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change. It’s also a place where deforestation runs rampant.
Between 2002 and 2024, the province lost 10% of its total tree cover, mostly due to agriculture. For the residents of the province, this poses a dilemma — many of them have been making a living from agriculture for generations.
But in the past few years, an environmentally friendly income alternative has arisen: ecotourism. The main driver of that change is Azuero Adventures, the tour company that led us into Cerro Hoya that day.
Throughout the time my group spent in the little coastal village of Cambutal, we got to share meals with the company’s founders, Panamanian-Americans Bryan Goldner and Alessa Stabile. The couple moved to the sleepy coastal village of Cambutal when the pandemic hit and soon realized the area had untapped potential for tourism.
As we started working with community members, it became clear how important the social sustainability component was and how that would lead to better ecological practices.
– Bryan Goldner, co-founder of Azuero Adventures
At the beginning, Alessa managed a beachside resort while Bryan got the business up and running. Now, just a few years later, Azuero Adventures is thriving. The company works with locals to offer outdoor excursions like horseback riding, bird watching, and whale watching.
Providing Cambutal residents with an environmentally friendly source of income wasn’t the original idea, but after the couple learned about tourism industry organizations involved in sustainability, that changed. “As we started working with community members, it became clear how important the social sustainability component was and how that would lead to better ecological practices,” Bryan says.
Bryan and Alessa also work with organizations like Pro Eco Azuero, a non-profit that focuses on reforestation, conservation, and education. With private funding, Pro Eco Azuero was able to reforest about 50 acres, but, Bryan says, “it’s an uphill battle, especially since the U.S. has canceled a lot of USAID budgets.”
While acknowledging the toll extractive economies have taken on the area, Bryan is careful to not blame the locals. “Most of the ranches are small,” he says. “These are families that are just trying to get by.” Ranching and agriculture are also longstanding cultural practices, which is why Bryan says, “There are ways that we can help people make more money and do better by the environment while also maintaining their way of life.”
One local ranch that Azuero Adventures works closely with is owned by the Almendras family, who have lived on the same property for generations. Although the family’s main source of income is still cattle ranching, Bryan says, “Every year that share becomes less and less, and ecotourism becomes more and more.”
That day in Cerro Hoya after our swim, we carefully stepped through the calf-deep water to return to the Almendras’s home. There, we sat at a table in the garden while Claudio Almendras and Claudio Jr. brought out dishes piled high with hot patacones (smashed fried plantains) and homemade salsa, then chicken and rice.
Claudio Jr. told me he’s proud of the work his family is doing with Azuero Adventures. “We’ve been able to share our home and our customs with hundreds of people,” he says. “Feeling their gratitude for our hospitality inspires us to continue taking care of our little place.” He also understands the role ecotourism plays in the larger picture: “The tourism experiences offered in Cambutal help more people see our wealth of natural resources, which makes a significant impact on environmental preservation.”
As we were preparing to leave the Almendras’s ranch, someone jumped up and pointed out toward the shoreline, just in time for us to see a humpback leap from the water. Scanning the water for more whales on the boat ride back to the brown-sugar beaches of Cambutal, I realized it had been a nearly perfect day. The fact that our adventure also contributed to the preservation of such a special place was the cherry on top.
