Gabe’s South American Harley Motorcycle Adventure: Crossing the Darien Gap
Gabe’s South American Harley Motorcycle Adventure: Crossing the Darien Gap by Air

Picture taken leaving Ecuador crossing over into Colombia!
#attorneythatrides #colombiamotoadventure #mototravelvlog I know, I know, but with all the Corona now relax I rode this in 2019 before the pandemic. I flew my bike to Santiago Chile, South America.
I rode it down to the end about 750 miles from Antarctica to Ushuaia, Argentina. I then turned around and rode to Prudhoe Bay Alaska, USA! In this video its me at the border briefly but more on the transport.

Gabe with Colombian Custom Officials After Bike Inspection!
I was not paid to promoted Cargo Ride but they did such a good job I plugged them. As you know it is 95{6afdcdf14f1f3d0d6d046bdd6bb6844d1d6f78a435ef85ae323b1d28ccc5d3f7} impossible for most folks to cross the Darien Gap on two wheels although you will find some videos of those who have done it. For me it was not feasible so i allowed $$$ in my budget to transport my bike over the Darien gap by air cargo.
What Does Wikipedia Say About the Gap?
The Darién Gap aka Tapón del Darién, literally “Darién plug” is a break across the North and South American continents within Central America, consisting of a large watershed, forest and mountains in the northern portion of Colombia’s Chocó Department and Panama’s Darién Province.
The Pan-American Highway also has a corresponding gap of 106 kilometres (66 mi) in length, beginning at Turbo, Colombia, and ending at Yaviza, Panama. Road building through this area is expensive, and the environmental cost is high. Political consensus in favor of road construction collapsed after an initial attempt failed in the early 1970s, and to date has not yet re-emerged.

Colombian soldiers patrol the port of Turbo, checking for human traffickers and drug smugglers.
The geography of the Darién Gap on the Colombian side is dominated primarily by the river delta of the Atrato River, which creates a flat marshland at least 80 km (50 mi) wide. The Serranía del Baudó range extends along Colombia’s Pacific coast and into Panama. The Panamanian side, in sharp contrast, is a mountainous rain forest, with terrain reaching from 60 m (197 ft) in the valley floors to 1,845 m (6,053 ft) at the tallest peak (Cerro Tacarcuna, in the Serranía del Darién).
Why is it Dangerous?
Darién Gap has not been called the most dangerous place in the Western Hemisphere for nothing. Let’s start with these reasons:
- Treacherous jungle,
- Virtually impassable mountains,
- Impenetrable swamps
Overgrown, often unmarked trails, - Almost totally uninhabited, so if you get lost or injured you’re on your own
Unfriendly wildlife – we’re talking about snakes as big as your arm, man-eating cats that are bigger than the snakes, crocodiles and caimans in the rivers, biting ants and spiders that can drop down your shirt without warning … you get the idea. - Countless mosquitoes, sometimes carrying diseases like malaria and dengue fever,
- Highly questionable water quality,
- Limited food availability (eat local plants or carry your own),
- Nearly 100{6afdcdf14f1f3d0d6d046bdd6bb6844d1d6f78a435ef85ae323b1d28ccc5d3f7} humidity,
- Crazed drug traffickers,
- Desperate paramilitary Colombian guerrillas,
- Paranoid government police,
- Risk of kidnapping, rape, torture or murder
- This list was stolen from a great resource: As We Saw It