Emberá Querá Village

A VISIT TO THE INDIGENOUS TRADITIONAL VILLAGE OF THE EMBERÁ TRIBE, DEEP IN THE RAINFOREST OF PANAMÁ

Países
Panama

Zona
South

Temática
Community Tourism

The residents of Emberá Querá come from different villages; its main founder came from Manené, Darién, to contribute to the development of the Alto Chagres region, invited by his cousin Miguel Flaco, then resident of Emberá Drua. Emeregildo Amagara and Melenio Bedoya also resided there, Emeregildo was convinced of the need to create the new village.

Until the year of 1999 they lived in Emberá Drúa, promoting local tourism development; from there they moved to Parará Purú in search of greater opportunities, which they did not find there either. With the firm conviction that they had to found a village dedicated entirely to tourism, they decided to find suitable land at the end of 2006.

Emberá Quera, is a sustainable tourism community established since January 2007 on the shores of Lake Gatún, District and Province of Colón. It is a village of the Emberá ethnic group made up of people who came from Darién, and from other communities of the Eastern Sector of the Hydrographic Basin of the Panama Canal, dedicated exclusively to tourism.

The community has adopted a regulation in which they establish the purpose and conditions of residence and exit from the community, the functions of volunteering, as well as the organization and functions of the tourism and community-based organizations, for guidance and strict compliance by all of the residents. They also have a Tourism Regulation that determines the activities and conditions of the services to be provided by all residents.

In short, the community has determined its exclusive dedication to the service of tourism. For social and community purposes, the Traditional Government has been established, led by a Nokó that looks after social welfare, healthy coexistence, and conservation of the customs and traditions of the culture they represent. The Nokó is accompanied in its functions by a Board of Directors, and has an Alternate acting during his temporary absences.