Mr. Julio
Ríos, a native of the city of Chitré, the provincial
capital of Herrera, spent most of his life working on roads, highways
and trails and numerous other public works that now constitute most
of the country’s tourist infrastructure. Mr. Ríos enjoyed
his work enormously especially since it provided him direct access
to his main passion: Panama’s rich fauna.
Three
years ago, Mr. Ríos established Eco-Aventuras Ríos,
on a verdant family plot in the outskirts of Chitré. Rustic,
this exotic three-hectare park and zoo resembles something taken out
of a Jurassic Park film, (without the dinosaurs). Hawks, coyotes,
pheasants, turtles, ostriches and white-tail deer are some of the
species that inhabit the park, along with alligators, boa constrictors,
iguanas, monkeys…the list goes on.
Some of
the animals were donated by local residents, while others came to
the park from places as far away as China. Mr. Ríos’
little zoo has become a big attraction in the area, and often receives
bus-loads of school children from nearby towns and provinces, and
occasionaly one or two foreign tourists as well.
