In Search of Dendrobates, Panama
June 1995 Part 3

We got ourselves ready very early the next morning, as we were excited about our trip by boat to Isla Bastimentos.
Musa brought the Zapatilla round to the mooring at the back of our hotel.  We greeted him rather enthusiastically and climbed aboard.  It was a pleasant 12-minute ride and we were soon at the jetty of Isla Bastimentos.   One snag arose and that was Musa had forgotten to get our permits to allow us to venture onto Bastimentos.  You see, it is a wildlife refuge, and unless you are Panamanian, you need a permit to enter.  So, he suggested that we give him our passports and he would go off and get them while we spent the day there.  I was very dubious about parting with them, but I saw no other choice.
We told him to collect us in five hours and as Musa disappeared round the key, we set off up the hill.  Bastimentos consists of a close-knit village on the shore, and that's about it.  The odd shack here and there and the rest is forest.  We ambled around on the outskirts of the town, and we were then aware of this beautiful sound.  Yes, it was D. pumilio, the red and black variety.  They were everywhere, dozens of them, and all different shades of red.  We were in our element!
We filmed as much as we could and wandered further afield.  As I climbed a steep bank, a frog hopped to my left, and I was left speechless.  It was brown/black, and had golden yellow stripes over its snout and down its sides.  I dropped everything (which was damned stupid, as on reflection it was all my camera equipment) and got out a container.  After much slipping and sliding I caught the little beauty, and boy! was I pleased.  At the time I had no idea what it was, but upon returning to England I have found it in the T.F.H. book Poison Frogs: Jewels of the Rainforest.  It is a rare colour form of Phyllobates lugubris, which the book says is believed to be on Bastimentos.  Well, I can definitely confirm that.
We came across six more of them and they were by far the fastest moving frog that we found.  There were once again plenty of Rocket Frogs about.
We came across several scorpions in the process of lifting leaf litter, and it was a bit unnerving.  We decided to move on again and along the way we met a local who knocked down a couple of coconuts, and with one swipe of his cutlass he took the top off each one, and we drank about a pint of cool, sweet liquid.
We found more colour forms of D. pumilio, and these were beige and black and orange and black.  I never thought I would ever say this, but after a while the males calling began to get on my pip, and as we approached the shore I was glad to be rid of their incessant chattering.  After we decided that we had got all we wanted, we went to the only store on the island which, by coincidence, was above the jetty.  The heat was unbearable, and we were glad that the store had two seats and plenty of 'COLD BEER'.  We chatted to the owner whose name was Joe, and he told us all about the history of Bastimentos.
Musa returned on time and we were glad to have our passports back.  That evening we dined again at Todos with a cool cerveza and a plate of fresh crab.
The next day was planned for Cayo Nancy, which is a remote island except for one inhabitant.  As arranged, Musa picked us up early and the journey was only ten minutes.  For those who do not know about this island, it is totally wild and forested.  We were dropped five metre from shore, and had to wade in water up to our hips.  Once on land we had to climb one-hundred metre bank, and let me tell you it was very steep and Ian nearly fell over the top.  It was all rainforest and more beautiful than you could imagine.  If I was to die, then I could think of no better place than the remote rainforest of Cayo Nancy.  Another name for this place immediately sprang to mind: HEAVEN....
As I neared the top, there in front of me was the most gorgeous frog so far encountered.  It was 100% golden and I just had to catch it.  I fumbled for one of two tubs that I had put in my trouser pockets, and leapt like a madman at this little jewel.  Eventually Ian got to the top and I produced the little gem.  He could not believe its beauty.
As we got over the ridge it was a choice of going left or right.  We chose the right, and as we wandered the beautiful golden D. pumilio were everywhere.  Males were calling for all they were worth and to my mind no amount of money in the world could compare to this.  There were so many Golden Pumilio that we had to watch where we were walking.
The rainforest quickly became too dense and so we had to turn back and go the other way.  We decided to go down this ravine and that was a big mistake!  We were lost!
As we crossed a stream by means of a fallen tree, Ian looked up and through the sunlight he saw a shadow of a large spider on the upper side of a banana leaf.  He shouted to me and I hurried to him.  As before, Muggins here had to collect it.  As I pulled the stem toward me, the spider dropped to the ground and scuttled under a leaf.  I grabbed a tub and jumped down after it.  Carefully lifting the leaf I discovered it was a VERY poisonous wandering spider, about three and on half inches long.  I momentarily shuddered.
I took the lid off the container and lunged at the beast.  No problem; I caught it and as I expected Ian jumped up and down with total glee.  We filmed the frogs and managed to find our way back to the pick-up point.  However: we were ninety minutes early and so after putting our gear against a tree, we looked around.  Then, something unexpected happened.  One minute it was sunny, the next WHOOOSH.  Down came the rain.  In three minutes we were totally soaked to the skin and what was more, the rain brought out the Bullet Ants, which have defensive armour you would not believe.  Ian was running about like a headless chicken fighting off the mini marauding beasts, while I just stood there in stitches of laughter.
Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped.  The sun came through with a vengeance.  As we dried ourselves in the sun, we were aware of something dive-bombing us, and looking up we saw it was a humming bird.  Upon closer observation we realised we were under her nest and so we moved away, but not before getting the video out to film her.
Musa soon arrived and again we ended up at Todos for the evening and this time dined on Sea Conch.  As we looked out toward the Caribbean, little did we know that the next day was to be our best.
Paul Armitstead