Travel Guide Bayano

Bayano is about 100 km from Panamá City, and 46 km from Chepo. It's a completely different world, where you start to see the majestic cuipos, the gigantic trees. Bayano is a small town but above all a 350 km² artificial lake, the country's largest body of water after Lake Gatún. It was created after the construction of a dam in 1976 on the Río Bayano, to power a hydroelectric plant. The lake flooded the ancestral lands of Gunas and Emberas communities, who were not compensated until 2015, after a lengthy procedure before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Bayano's name pays homage to the famous16th-century maroon rebel who organized a formidable resistance by fugitive African slaves against the Spanish colonists. It's an easy day trip from the capital, but it's much nicer to stay on site, at the finca Aguas Mansas for example, to enjoy the lake's peaceful surroundings and discover the world of a typical farm. Bayano Adventure, the tour operator run by the owners of this agro-tourism farm, offers a range of nature-based activities, including exploration of the famous caves(cuevas) to the south of the lake.