Flanked by 60-storey glass towers in Panama City you'd be forgiven for thinking you were in Miami, Singapore or the year 2020. But just 45 minutes gets you to other Panamas: dense jungle inhabited by indigenous Indians, palm-fringed beaches and islands, and the canons and forts of a Spanish colonial past that lurk intact nearby.

So should you ever be in the capital and tired of cosmopolitan sophistication and air-conditioning, here are six of the best 45-minute trips by foot, air, dugout and ferry into the wild and tropical bits along Central America’s undiscovered bottom.

By car and kayak:
Gamboa Rainforest Resort, Panama Canal Watershed

Gamboa Rainforest Resort is a handy access point for this 50,000 acre still and steamy forest and the wetter elements of the Panama Canal Zone – Gatun Lake, the Chagres river and the canal itself. Various boat trips are available at the marina, but kayaking is the ideal way to stealthily observe monkeys, coatimundis, sloths and toucans in the trees and foliage while gliding silently along the banks.

Obviously you’re not the only object gliding silently along, (although I’d gone some distance on something akin to a flattened jerry can with paddles before Fabio the guide mentioned the crocodiles and caimans, both big and plentiful), so it’s worth also keeping an eye on bubbles and logs to avoid any unnecessary collisions. I think croco-phobes should opt for something more substantial with sides and a canopy roof.

An electrical storm complete with black sky and wall of rain from nowhere makes for a refreshing reminder of the undiminished power of nature even here in the virtual suburbs. Eco-purists may prefer to sit out storms in a tent or under a poor man’s umbrella, but despite being large with business centre and all-you-can-eat buffet bar and refrigerated souvenir shops, Gamboa’s private balcony hammocks and terrace bar tables provide very comfortable ringside seats for the real, wild deal.

Gamboa Rainforest Resort: Tel (507) 314 9000, gamboaresort.com

By dugout:
Emberá Drua, Rio Chagres

Just 45-minutes in (and during dry season occasionally out of and pushing) a motorised dugout up the Rio Chagres takes you to a sandbank and the singing welcoming committee of the brightly - if sparingly – dressed members of a gen-u-ine rainforest-dwelling community, the emberá.

Given that dugouts have been ferrying tourists here for some years, anyone expecting a unique white man meets Indian type experience will be sadly disappointed. However these indigenous indians do live off the rainforest just as they always have and, whether or not they carry mobile phones, an afternoon spent eyeing the beads wound round their shins, exploring their village, learning something about rainforest plants, being painted with jagua dye, swimming in the river and just being in this remote spot is both fascinating and unsettling.

And amazingly, despite the easy access, the emberá’s mundo - from culture to short, striking looks - remains distinct and uncompromised. “We held off taking groups there for five years” say ecotour operators, Ancon Expeditions, “but they talked us round. The fact is if they weren’t doing what they’re doing, they’d be spinning pizza dough in Panama City.”

Ancon Expeditions: Tel (507) 269-9415; anconexpeditions.com

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