Gamboa Rainforest Resort: Panamammals

Rainforest mammals are notoriously difficult to see, but the grounds of the hotel itself proved very productive. Red howler monkeys and white-faced capuchins were tolerably common, and agoutis were everywhere, like gawky squirrels on lawns.

I ate a red-rumped agouti in Guyana in November, and after that not entirely successful gustatory experiment, I was just as happy to admire these alive.

Capybaras were a terrific surprise to me, grazing on the hotel grounds and crashing through the brush on the river’s edge. I never got a good photo of the herd, but here at least is a heartwarming scene, if blurry, of maternal care.

The real mammalian prize was snoozing in the rafters of the canopy tower. A disheveled clump of fur came alive when two Black Vultures landed noisily on the roof: a kinkajou!

Far and away the cutest sight of the entire trip.