ABOUT THE OTHER PANAMA
The Other Panama was founded in 2015 by Ben Harris.
After working and diving his way around the world from the age of 17, working in Thailand, South Africa, Honduras, Fiji and diving in every country it was possible as he passed through.
Ben arrived in the then sleepy little fishing village of Santa Catalina back in 2008.
After diving Coiba the first time, he found what he had been searching for and made the area his base. He has been diving in and around Coiba ever since.
After leaving for 20 months to protect endangered Whales from Harpoons in Antarctica. He wanted to find a way to combine his diving tours with a more conservation focused theme, he launched T.O.P in the for hope of providing trips and courses that educate and create awareness about our oceans and their inhabitants.
Whilst giving people unforgettable experiences and memories that will inspire them to conserve what they saw and loved.
​
Showing them The Other Panama ...
A pristine Panama, positively brimming with wildlife and beautiful flora and fauna, a side of Panama with a rich a diverse marine life where otherwise scarce animals, plants and insects still thrive and all of which it is so vitally important to protect and conserve.
​
Conservation & Coiba
Coiba Island National Park is UNESCO World Heritage Site and National Marine Park, is home to many rare & unique species. Isla Coiba was the site of one of the last remaining penal colonies.
After the close of the prison in 2005, scientists and researchers found the islands and the surrounding seas to be in an extraordinary state of conservation
​
The region where this abundance still exists is mainly in and around the Coiba National Park, on the less visited Pacific coast of the country so this is currently where The Other Panama (TOP) is focussing its efforts.
How do we encourage and enable our guests to help our Oceans while they are enjoying them?
The Other Panama documents all that it sees above and below the surface on its trips and reports all marine life sightings to numerous well established Conservation Groups.
TOP collects this data in order to gain a better understanding what is happening in our oceans and help pressure governments into better protection laws and enforcement and patrols of established marine parks.
​
​
Our Commitments
Plastic water bottles
​
With so much plastic polluting our seas and beaches around the world, we endeavour to use the absolute bare minimum of plastic in our operation.Instead of just trying to recycle our waste we are focused on reducing or eliminating it completely.
​
For this reason we do not provide guests with plastic water bottles but rather clean drinking water from a cooler with ice and provide each guest with a reusable water bottle for the duration of their stay.
Vegetarian/Vegan Cuisine
​
The United Nations estimates that all the worlds fisheries will be empty and our oceans dead by the year 2048, If we continue to consume animals at our current rate, this is a very alarming reality and one The Other Panama does not wish to contribute to and for this reason the food we serve on our day trips and overnight is Vegan/Vegetarian.
​
​​
Beach Cleaning
​
Any time we have a boat available to transport that which we collect, we conduct a beach clean at each location we stop at, thankfully most of the beaches we visit are still beautiful and untouched but there is always a few plastic bottles to be collected.
Since 2018 we have been working in Partnership with Parley for the Oceans and with their funding we have removed more then 6 tons of plastic waste from our Oceans. To learn more about our beach clean ups and how you can volunteer click here:
https://www.theotherpanama.com/beach-clean-ups
​
​
