Darien Gap: The Terrifying Truth About the World's Most Dangerous Road!

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What are the dangers of Darien Gap?
Is it safe to cross the Darien Gap?
Why is there no road through the Darien Gap?
How many people have made it through the Darien Gap?
What animals live in Darien Gap?
How do people get past the Darien Gap?
Why The Pan-American Highway Was Never Completed

Interesting stuff I found for myself:

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Sannu, Bill Pearce, Miroslav Houdek

Lets chat:

[pippilongstocking-qsfm]

I had not heard of the Darien Gap until yesterday. I watched a video of 2 gringos traveling in an old off road vehicle using the old train track route 😮. The comments warned them of their risks & dangers of that route. I now see why their comments were so harsh

[fouristv]

How is it officially (Guinness world record) the longest highway on the planet? There’s an obvious break in the highway (Darien gap) so wouldn’t that make it two separate roads?

[tlsmack]

I have read that the gap acts as a buffer that prevents agricultural and livestock diseases from crossing continents. This may be the best argument against completing the highway.

[djp]

I'm really surprised no one has built a road there in the past 500 years, when no one cared about the environment or indigenous people.

[SGilles]

I once drove from D.C. to Indiana and I thought THAT was long!

[maryvalentine]

In 1990 I walked through the Darien Gap with a friend. It was a crazy time, America was bombing Panama so met soldiers in the jungle etc

[KrisPaape]

Don't worry - they're building a big bridge there now!

[bradsimpson]

There are a ton of geopolitical issues at play that contribute to the lack of interest in bridging the gap. Here's a few:

1) Prior to 1903, Panama was a province of Colombia and fought a war for independence. With the backing of the US Navy protecting the coasts and the Darién Gap making a land invasion impossible, Panama was pretty secure.
2) The drug trade and illegal immigration through the region would skyrocket if a road was built.
3) Foot and mouth disease has been eradicated in North America, but not in South America. The agricultural industry has always been resistant to livestock crossing those borders, and a road would make that easier.

[aaronwentzel]

I think you mean Prudhoe Bay, not Pond Bay.

[stwv]

Damn, never heard of this before, but super interesting. Great Video!

[mrcydonia]

I guess I'll scratch the Darien Gap off of my list of vacation ideas.

[mountainmover]

Thank you God for the Darien Gap! I can't Imagine the flow of chaos if there was a highway through there..

[Highvoltage-mlwl]

China would easily build a bridge over that dangerous terrain! Not too high but high enough to be a distance from dangerous ground

[anfduude]

very interesting, I wanted to know more about this and you summed it up nicely in a video! thank you!

[sheaiek]

7:16 "Multiple" rivers and streams maybe an understatement. They crossed a total of 180 rivers and streams and had to build improvised bridges over 125 of them using the trunks of palm trees were dense enough to hold the weight of the Land Rover.

[bboyorc]

fascinating! for a while have been thinking of doing the whole route on foot... iv traveled most of the world and still looking for new challenges ! this is definitely an eye opener and will have to consider further

[SuperPlayloud]

At 0:26 you mentioned venomous snakes but you showed a non-venomous snake species which doesn't even live in that region.They live in certain territories in Eurasia. What you showed is a harmless Grass snake. Please do not spread misinformation about these beautiful snakes, I don't wish for people to kill them because they saw in this video that they are dangerous which they are not at all. They don't even bite you, they are the most peaceful snakes in the world! (but they do let out a stinky fart when scared)

[frostflower]

So I don't get it. Once they cross into Panama what happens? Do they all want to stay there?

[Arc]

Definitely cool to learn this. Seems like this gap is what really separates the americas. Just learned you can even drive to central america. So from Canada/Us(by way of Alaska) to Panana is wild. Always thought it was just Mexico as a driving stopping ground. Awesome video!

[miroslavhoudek]

Given tunneling costs as much as 1 billion USD per kilometer, this could be solved easily for ~70 billion USD. Not great, not terrible.