page_title: Darién Gap
section_title: Natural resources
hierarchical_section_title: Darién Gap / History / Natural resources
caption_attribution_description: English: A Ceiba tree makes Darien Gap crosser Gustavo Ross look tiny in comparison. Ceibas are considered sacred trees by ancient Mayan cultures.
context_page_description: The Darién Gap is a break across the North and South American continents within Central America, consisting of a large watershed, forest and mountains in the northern portion of Colombia's Chocó Department and Panama's Darién Province.
  The Pan-American Highway also has a corresponding gap of 106 kilometres in length, beginning at Turbo, Colombia, and ending at Yaviza, Panama. Roadbuilding through this area is expensive, and the environmental cost is high. Political consensus in favor of road construction collapsed after an initial attempt failed in the early 1970s, and to date has not yet re-emerged.
  The geography of the Darién Gap on the Colombian side is dominated primarily by the river delta of the Atrato River, which creates a flat marshland at least 80 km wide. The Serranía del Baudó range extends along Colombia's Pacific coast and into Panama. The Panamanian side, in stark contrast, is a mountainous rainforest, with terrain reaching from 60 m in the valley floors to 1,845 m at the tallest peak.
context_section_description: Two major national parks exist in the Darién Gap: Darién National Park in Panama and Los Katíos National Park in Colombia. The Darién Gap forests had extensive cedrela and mahogany cover at one time, but many of these trees were removed by loggers.
  Darién National Park covers around 5,790 square kilometres (579,000 ha; 2,240 sq mi; 1,430,000 acres) of land and was established in 1980. It is the largest national park in Central America.
caption: A Ceiba tree in the Darien Gap.
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