Visiting an Embera Village

World ARC 2025-26: Panama

Yesterday, World ARC rally participants had an amazing day out, visiting the indigenous Embera Indians. Their village is located deep within the Chagres National Park area of Panama, accessible only by boat. 

After a bus ride to the Chagres River, the group stepped into dugout canoes for a 30-40 minute ride upriver towards the village.

When the sailors landed at the village, they were greeted with traditional music, big smiles and with the women and children in colourful clothing and beautiful flowers in their hair.  The village chief was very welcoming and invited us to sit down while he explained the history, culture and traditions of the tribe.

It was interesting to hear how they had moved to this area in the 1960s and now live self-sufficiently with 36 families and a population just over 140.  They use only natural resources, living mostly from the land with everybody having their own jobs and working well together

The Embera tribe makes money from fishing and selling their handicrafts, which were beautifully displayed and much admired by the World ARC participants, who found many beautiful souvenirs to take back with them.

On a guided tour through the village, we had the opportunity to taste some of the natural medicines from the forest followed by a delicious lunch of fish, fried plantains, and fruit. Once lunch was over, traditional music and dance encouraged rally participants to mingle with the villagers to learn some of their dance moves.

As our visit to this amazing place came to an end, we thanked them with a chorus of ‘biabua’, meaning thank you, took a group photo and then waved farewell while climbing back into our canoes.