More than 90,000 migrants crossed the deadly Darién Gap between Panama and Colombia in 2021, according to Panamanian authorities. A majority of migrants making the dangerous trek are Haitians hoping to seek asylum in America. Adults and children rely on smugglers to transport them by boat and leave them to find their way through a 66-mile stretch consisting of rivers, forests, and mountains alone.
“There’s hardly any trails through there. I mean, you’re walking on either long streams or long rivers, or, you know, on small animal trails, animal tracks through the forest,” Professor Michael Ryan at the University at Texas at Austin said.
Ryan and about half a dozen graduate students visited the Darien Gap twice to research an unrelated topic, the Tungara frog. He shared his insight on what it’s like to navigate such rugged terrain.
“If you’re there with, you know, with food, and with hammocks to sleep in, and there’s park rangers there, it does feel like a tropical heaven, but to be able to try to navigate through that entire forest, whether you had assistance or not, then it becomes a real tropical hell,” said Ryan.
Panamanian authorities said 20 to 30 people die annually taking this trek. But this year, that number has nearly doubled due to the increase in migrant crossings.
Neighboring communities recover and bury dozens of migrants who did not survive the journey.
