The mountainous Nargana Magisterial Wilderness Area – a 596 square kilometres swathe of virgin rain forest inhabited solely by wild animals – serves as a barrier intentionally isolating the comarca from the rest of the county. It is also a buffer zone against intrusion by non-Indians and by loggers with their eyes on deforestation.

The park merges with marquee Nacional Chagres to the west and extends from the continental divide to the Caribbean coast. The birding is equal to anywhere in Panama. More than 400 species have been seen here: keel-billed toucans, black-crowned antpittas, sulphur-rumped tanagers, blue-headed parrots, and more.

Burbayar Lodge is a Kuna-run eco-lodge on the edge of the reserve at a springlike 375-metre elevation. Six trails of varying difficulty lead into the lodge’s own 50-hectare rain-forest reserve, good for spotting poison dart frogs, vine snakes, bats, and iguanas, families of monkeys, pumas, jaguars, and tapirs.