How to Visit an Indigenous Tribe in Panama

If you’re travelling to Panama, this is one of the best experiences you can have there. It’s easy to do, fascinating and you’ll love the experience. This detailed guide explains everything you need to know about how to visit the indigenous tribes of Panama…

This Panama Indigenous Tribes travel guide is based on our experiences during our round the world trip. The guides on this website are constantly updated by us and with info from contributors to keep them current, up-to-date and as helpful as possible for you.

Visiting Indigenous Tribes in Panama

By Andy Davidson

Mad or Nomad - RTW motorcycle travellers

Why visit a tribe in Panama?

Visiting an indigenous tribe in Panama is a once in a lifetime experience. You’ll get an incredible insight into the unique culture, language, history and way of life of the traditional people’s of Panama.

Visiting a village is easy to do, safe, fully guided and will be a highlight of your trip in Panama. This packed guide explains everything you need to know about visiting them as well as our experiences so you can have the best trip and experience possible.

Our experience

We visited an Embera tribe from Panama City in July 2024 while on our round the world motorcycle trip. We had just sent our motorcycles to be shipped from Panama to Colombia and wanted to spend some time outside of the city – and we’re so glad we did because it was an incredible experience.

Our tour included a visit to the waterfall, which our guide and boatman offered, but we said we were happy to skip it as we’ve seen approximately 18,000 waterfalls. They were more than happy to skip it too and take us straight to the village. This worked out perfectly because it meant we got the entire village to ourselves before any other tour groups arrived.

We walked around and spoke to as many people as we could. We chatted with the chief’s wife who spoke some Spanish and our tour guide translated everything else for us.

We asked all the questions we wanted to and the chief’s wife gave us a speech about her people. All the while, a traditional lunch was being cooked up of fresh fish and fritters – and it was ridiculously delicious. We were given a huge plate of fruit too including pineapples and mangoes.

Around two hours after we arrived, three more tour groups arrived and we were all ushered into the main area to watch a traditional dance. After, the groups were taken to an area for a speech and lunch, but as we had already heard it we wondered around and chatted to more people until we were ready to head out.

Overall, it was a fascinating experience and we highly recommend it. We asked a lot of questions and have included some of them at the bottom of this article.

Where to visit a tribe from?

You can visit indigenous tribes from the Darien Gap region or from Panama City. The city is the easiest option and the one we’d recommend.

Which tribe to visit?

There are seven indigenous tribes in Panama: the Ngäbe, Buglé, , Emberá, Wounaan, Bri bri and the Naso Tjërdi and all together they make up 12% of the Panamanian population.

The tribe we visited was the Embera. They are one of Panama’s most prominent indigenous groups, with a rich cultural heritage and deep ties to the region’s environment. They primarily inhabit the Darién region in eastern Panama, as well as parts of the Emberá-Wounaan Comarca, a semi-autonomous territory established to protect their cultural and territorial rights.

But the Embera also live along areas of the Chagres River – and that’s where we visited them. Many Emberá communities have embraced tourism, offering cultural experiences to visitors as a source of income.

Can you go on your own?

No. You must arrange a tour with a registered and licenced company. A tour guide will take you to and from the village.

How do you visit the tribe?

Your tour guide will pick you up from your hotel. Let’s say you’re staying in Panama City. It’ll be about an hour drive to the Chagres River where your guide will park and you’ll meet tribesmen who will direct you into a wooden long boat. You’ll then head up the river and to their village.

This ride is about 15 minutes. Some tours may include a visit and hike to a waterfall that you can swim in before you get to the village.

You’ll be welcomed into the village and your guide will take you around. There will be a talk, a dance and a traditional lunch. After you can check out their handicrafts and buy some cool souvenirs. You’ll then be taken back on the boat and dropped off at your hotel.

How to Visit an Indigenous Tribe in Panama

How much does it cost?

Expect tours to cost anywhere from 100-150USD per person. This price should include pick up and drop off from your hotel, should be private for you and your group and include lunch, drinks and any associated entrance fees.

How many people in a tour?

This is dependent on the company you go with and the deal you get. For example, we paid 100USD per person for a private tour for the two of us all in.

How long is the tour?

All in all, from pickup at your hotel to drop off back at your hotel in the city, you can expect the tour to be up to eight hours. This is the standard amount of time for a tour.

What do I need to take with me?

Here’s a little packing list of what we’d recommend taking with you on your indigenous tribe tour.

Camera
Money to tip your guide and to buy handicrafts
Sunglasses, hat, sun cream, mosquito repellent
Snacks and water (you should get water and lunch as part of your tour)
Comfortable clothing suitable for the weather conditions and a throwover waterproof poncho just in case
Sweets for the kids
Swimming costume if you’re going to the waterfall

How to find a tour company

We went with Monkey Adventures and they were great.

However, we recommend using viator.com to find the most current and cheapest deals. You can then find and tailor the tour to suit your and your group’s needs.

View tours: Embera Traditional Tribe Tours

Where to stay in Panama City

There’s a huge selection of hotels and hostels in Panama City for suitable for any budget. However, we recommend figuring out where exactly you want to stay as there are some rough areas in the city.

We highly recommend this place below as we stayed here for a week. It was super secure (electronic gated parking for our motorcycles), fast wifi, kitchen, included breakfast, air-con etc.

Recommended hotel in Panama City: El Machico Hostel

Questions we asked

Here’s a bunch of questions we asked the locals on our tour. You might find some of these interesting!

What are the big wooden stocks in the village?

These are called Sepo. It’s a form of punishment for anyone who misbehaves in the village. One ankle goes in the hole and you can spend five hours to five days in there depending on the severity of punishment. Sugar is also sprinkled around the person so that ants attack them and the Sepo is left in the open baking sun with no shade. It’s still in use today and the last offence was nine months ago.

Do you have electricity?

The Embera do have solar panels. An American university supplied the solar panels to help power the village.

What about food and water?

Water comes in via a pump from a nearby spring. And they plant their own vegetables, catch fish, have chicken and plenty of plantain and mango trees.

Do you have a doctor here?

There is a botanical doctor in the village who is an expert in herbal medicine.

How many villages are there here?

There are seven villages along this riverbank and they’re all relatively close together. There’s around 25 families and the one we’re at is the smallest settlement.

Why do the women have tattoos?

The tattoos are not permanent and last about 10 days. The ink is from a fruit. The face tattoos show if a woman is married or not. If there are symbols then the woman is looking for a partner, if the tattoos are blocked then she is married. The rest of the tattoos and the ones on the men are decorative.

What language do you speak?

Embera has its own traditions, cultures and language. The language is called Embera and Spanish is the second language.

How long have you been here?

The people in these villages left the Darien Gap over 60 years ago. They were located right at the bottom of Panama along the Darien border. Lots of tribes stayed behind but some relocated to this region. Families can go back using boats to visit.

Do you receive any support from the government?

No. They receive support from tourism but never from the government. Originally the people here hunted and farmed for food. But the Panamanian government classified this area as a National Park not so long ago and banned all hunting and mass farming. They are now only allowed to farm to feed themselves and not to sell.

Why don’t the houses have walls?

The houses are high on stilts in case the area floods and they don’t have walls because it’s tradition. If an enemy tribe tries to attack them they can see them coming. The houses are normally wide open, but as they knew tourists were visiting today they put sheets up to protect their privacy.

What do you believe in?

They believe in and pray to the moon and mother earth. The people here are free to practice “famous religions” though. The Emberá have a deep respect for their rivers and forests because they believe that everything in nature has a spirit.

Who is in charge?

Each village has a chief. The chief must be over 35 and makes a case for himself. The leader is decided by having a ceremony where everyone in the village chooses a man to stand behind. They stay as the chief for five years.

Can you tell us more about your colourful clothes?

The women wear headbands which represent joy. Some of the women wear tops covered in coins – these are inherited by family members and passed down through the generations. Today they use colourful fabrics for skirts and clothing. But before they had that material they used bark.