The Darién Gap is a remote stretch of roadless rainforest and swampland straddling the border between Panama and Colombia. It is the only break in the Pan-American Highway, which otherwise runs uninterrupted from Alaska to Argentina.
Spanning southern Panama’s Darién Province and northern Colombia’s Chocó Department, the Gap covers roughly 106 kilometres of dense jungle, marshland and mountains. The Colombian side consists largely of the Atrato River delta — flat, waterlogged terrain at least 80 kilometres wide — while the Panamanian side rises steeply through rainforest to peaks such as Cerro Tacarcuna, which reaches 1,845 metres. Despite its reputation as one of the most inhospitable regions on Earth, the Gap remains the only land bridge between the two American continents and has long been a corridor for wildlife and human migration. Around 8,000 people, mostly from the indigenous Emberá-Wounaan and Guna communities, live in scattered settlements. No road crosses the region; repeated attempts to close the highway gap have failed because of cost, terrain and environmental concerns. Criminal activity, including drug and human trafficking, is widespread.
