The Darién Gap 

Our Bonus D is a serious one. The Darién Gap is a long, lawless, inhospitable rainforest between Colombia and Panama. It is a route for irregular migration, with hundreds of thousands of people travelling from south to north towards their dream of a better life. It is notoriously perilous, replete with dangers ranging from poisonous insects, challenging weather and animal predators to violent gangs.

Not many people have heard of the Darién Gap, which is why we have chosen it as the Bonus D. There will not be a food entry for this stop because many of those who attempt the crossing are not prepared for how long it takes and, more often than not, run out of food, if they even make it to the other side.

The Darién Plug

In Spanish, the region is called el Tapón del Darién (literally “the Darién plug”). The name is said to reflect the physical blockage that interrupts the Pan-American Highway, which otherwise runs the length of the Americas. The name Darién is said to come from local Indigenous languages, more specifically that of the Cueva people who lived in the area. The Spanish conquistadors adopted the name and established some short-lived settlements. There were later attempts to colonize the region, most notably the 1698 Scottish Darién Scheme, which failed completely due to disease, starvation and Spanish attacks. The Scottish treasury was ruined, which contributed to political union with England in 1707.

Darién was also considered as a potential canal route, but this too came to nothing, and the canal was later built in Panama. In 1924, Colombia and Panama signed a formal international border treaty, which left the Darién region largely unpoliced and unpaved. In the 1970s, the US planned to push the Pan-American Highway through the jungle, but the plan met opposition from environmentalists and cattle ranchers, who feared the ecological damage and the spread of foot-and-mouth disease, which could have had disastrous results.

The Darién Gap extends for roughly 100 kilometres between Colombia and Panama. It has become one of the world’s most heavily travelled irregular migration routes and, with little state protection, a lawless stronghold for drug cartels and armed groups. The number of people who travel through it annually peaked at over 500,000 in 2023 (then around 300,000 in 2024). UNHCR subsequently described irregular crossings through the Darién as having fallen by more than 98% in 2025.

Two Darién books

The Cloud Garden (Tom Hart Dyke & Paul Winder, 2004)

This book could also be called Two Idiots Ignore All Warnings and Hike Towards Danger. Anyway, it is astonishing where stupidity can take people. Fellow travellers Tom and Paul from England were repeatedly warned about the dangers of the Darién, but they decided to wander in anyway, with the idea of crossing from Yaviza (Panama) to Turbo (Colombia). One was an orchid-obsessed botanist (Tom) and the other (Paul) a young backpacker who, like so many backpackers, wanted to go somewhere “not spoiled by tourism”. Try Mars, Bouvet Island or an oil rig, fellas. Why anyone would deliberately and voluntarily go into one of the most dangerous places on earth is beyond me. But these two did.

The pair met by chance and started planning to cross the Darién for no particular reason other than orchids and thrill. People cross the Darién out of necessity, not free will, but these two did. They met some other travellers who were initially interested in joining them, but common sense prevailed and those individuals dropped out of the plan. Tom and Paul were warned about the Darién at every turn, but they still decided to go because they were idiots.

So it happens. After six days, they were kidnapped by most accounts ‘ FARC-linked guerrillas’ and held for nine months. The guerrillas expected a ransom and moved their hostages from one place to another. Tom and Paul take risks, play stupid and are sometimes complete idiots, but against all odds they manage to stay alive despite threats to their lives, flesh-eating worms, explosive bodily functions and being cut off from the world. They are observers but not analysts. Their captors are poor, uneducated and without many options in a violence-ridden landscape. The pages do not convey real fear on the part of Tom and Paul, and in the end they are entitled white guys lost in the jungle whom the world is looking for. Their Panamanian fellow hostage does not get the same international attention.

It is an interesting read though, and replete with English humour. There are hints of reflection at the end, and one of the most interesting parts is actually the description of their families’ efforts to find them. It is not a deep, reflective or transcendental book, but it is interesting and easy to read. It is also quite amazing how they remember all the details of their nine months in captivity.

The Darién Gap: A Reporter’s Journey through the Deadly Crossroads of the Americas (Belén Fernández, 2025)

While Tom and Paul’s book is descriptive, this book is investigative and reflective. It looks at the Darién not as a thrill or an adventure, but as a landscape of humanitarian crisis, where hundreds of thousands of migrants cross its dangerous and unforgiving terrain. Belén asks why these people undertake such a dangerous journey and what the geopolitical reasons behind it are.

Belén travels to and through the Darién. She meets people from a variety of backgrounds and talks to migrants and refugees, as well as people living in the area, people smugglers, border officials and police. She delves deeply into the darker side of the Darién: the exploitation of migrants, human smuggling, sexual violence and death. Belén treats all of this with respect, but also with a strong human touch and dry humour.

It is a relatively short book, and, as with some of the other stops on Virtual Nomad, it complements the reading experience for this stop. It is vastly different from Tom and Paul’s book: it asks more questions, delves into the reasons why people cross this inhospitable landscape, and looks at the much bigger picture of international politics, migration, poverty, inequality, geopolitics and exploitation

Darién on film 

There are two fiction feature films that are related to the Darién Gap, but both seem so ridiculous that, taking into account the real environment of the Darién Gap and the immense human suffering that has taken place there, it would feel like a travesty to watch them. Therefore, the best place to go is the numerous documentaries about the Darién Gap. Several journalists and Western adventurers have filmed their journeys through the Darién Gap.

There are more than enough to choose from, but here is a selection of a few that we watched:

Children of the Darién Gap (Al Jazeera, 2024)

An estimated  quarter of the people crossing the Darién Gap are children. This 2024 documentary follows 19-year-old mother of two, Swanny Flores, from Ecuador, who has fled with her very young children and her brother after her boyfriend killed her mother. The documentary follows Swanny, her children, her brother and her uncle’s family as they cross the Darién, fully aware of the risks they are taking but feeling that they have no alternative.

It is an outstanding, deeply human documentary that puts a human face on the desperation, fear and determination behind the migrant journey.

Desperate Journey: What migrants face as they journey through the deadly Darién Gap (PBS NewsHour, 2020)

In this documentary, journalist Nadja Drost and her videographer, Bruno Federico, spend several days crossing the Darién with migrants from Cameroon, Bangladesh, Pakistan and elsewhere. As in the other documentaries, we hear real stories about the difficulties of crossing this unforgiving terrain, as well as the stories and circumstances behind the migrants’ desperate decision to undertake the journey. There are several accounts of robbery and sexual assault, reminders of the many dangers of crossing the Darién.

Narco Jungle: The Darién Gap (CTV, 2024)

This documentary investigates the connection between migration and organised crime. Canadian journalist Avery Haines and the film crew trek through the Darién Gap for six days. Avery interviews several migrants, but also the leader of the Gulf Clan, Colombia’s major criminal organisation, which is deeply involved in human smuggling. Avery and the crew meet migrants from a number of different places, and while they are protected by authorities, the people they encounter tell horrific stories of sexual violence, robbery and death. They also meet children who have been separated from their parents. It is, again, a very powerful documentary.

Next stop: Ecuador