To travel between the continents through the Darién Gap has long been a challenge. The Gap can be transited by off-road vehicles attempting intercontinental journeys. The first post-colonial expedition to the Darién was the Marsh Darién Expedition in 1924–25, supported by several major sponsors, including the
Smithsonian Institution, the
American Museum of Natural History, and the
government of Panama. The first vehicular crossing of the Gap was made by three Brazilians in two
Ford Model T cars. They left Rio de Janeiro in 1928 and arrived in the United States in 1938. The expedition intended to bring attention to the Pan-American highway following an International Conference in Chile, in 1923. The participants were Leonidas Borges de Oliveira, a lieutenant from the
Brazilian army, Francisco Lopez da Cruz from the
Brazilian air force, and Mário Fava, a young mechanic. They took what appears to be the last photo of
Augusto Sandino, who received them in Nicaragua, and were received by Henry Ford and Franklin Roosevelt in the United States. Another crossing was completed by the
Land Rover La Cucaracha Cariñosa (The Affectionate Cockroach) and a
Jeep of the Trans-Darién Expedition of 1959–60. They left
Chepo, Panama, on 2 February 1960 and reached
Quibdó,
Colombia, on 17 June 1960, averaging per hour over 136 days. In December 1960, on a motorcycle trip from Alaska to
Argentina, adventurer Danny Liska attempted to transit the Darién Gap from Panama to Colombia. In Panama City, Liska decided to fly his motorcycle ahead to Medellin, and proceed across the Gap by boat and on foot. He was later forced to abandon his motorcycle when he was not able to clear it at a customs office in
Punta Arenas, and was once again afoot. In 1961, a team of three 1961
Chevrolet Corvairs and several support vehicles departed from Panama. After 109 days, they reached the Colombian Border with two Corvairs, the third having been abandoned in the jungle. In 1972, a team of explorers from the
British Army spent 96 days crossing the Gap in a pair of
Range Rover Classic SUVs. The crossing was part of a much larger Pan-American adventure, The British Trans-Americas Expedition. Explorer and British Army Colonel
John Blashford-Snell was the expedition's leader, while the vehicles were overseen and driven by Army Officer Gavin Thompson, along with eight
Royal Engineers. As the journey became exceedingly difficult due to the terrain, the two SUVs were joined by a third vehicle—a
Land Rover Series II—to help blaze the trail ahead. The seven-month long journey began in
Alaska and successfully finished in
Tierra del Fuego,
Argentina. It was the first north-to-south crossing of the Americas on land vehicles in a single trip via the Gap. The first fully overland wheeled crossing of the Gap was that of British cyclist
Ian Hibell, who rode from
Cape Horn to Alaska between 1971 and 1973 (others used boats for some sections). Hibell took the "direct" overland south-to-north route, including an overland crossing of the Atrato Swamp in Colombia. motorcycle) was the first motor vehicle to fully navigate the Pan-American Highway by land. Ed Culberson was the first one to follow the entire Pan-American highway proposed route, including the Darién Gap, on a motorcycle, a
BMW R80G/S. From 1994 to 1997, the Gap was briefly joined by a ferry service provided by
Crucero Express. A number of notable crossings have been made on foot.
Sebastian Snow crossed the Gap with
Wade Davis in 1975 as part of his unbroken walk from
Tierra del Fuego to Costa Rica. The trip is documented in his 1976 book
The Rucksack Man and in Wade Davis's 1996 book
One River. In 1981,
George Meegan crossed the gap on a similar journey. He, too, started in Tierra del Fuego and eventually ended in Alaska. His 1988 biography,
The Longest Walk, describes the trip and includes a 25-page chapter on his foray through the Gap. In 1979, evangelist
Arthur Blessitt traversed the gap while carrying a wooden cross, a trek confirmed by Guinness World Records as part of "the longest round-the-world pilgrimage" for Christ. Most crossings of the Darién Gap region have been from Panama to Colombia. In July 1961, three college students, Carl Adler, James Wirth, and Joseph Bellina, crossed from the
Bay of San Miguel to Puerto Obaldia on the
Gulf of Parita (near Colombia) and ultimately to Mulatupu in the
San Blas Islands. The trip across the Darién was by
banana boat,
piragua, and foot via the
Tuira river (
La Palma and El Real de Santa Maria), Río Chucunaque (
Yaviza), Río Tuquesa (Chaua's (General Choco Chief) Trading Post—
Choco Indian village), and Serranía del Darién. In 1985, Project Raleigh, which evolved from Project Drake in 1984 and in 1989 became
Raleigh International, sponsored an expedition that also crossed the Darién coast to coast. Between the early 1980s and mid-1990s, Encounter Overland, a British adventure travel company, organized two- to three-week trekking trips through the Darién Gap from Panama to Colombia or vice versa. These trips used a combination of whatever transport was available: jeeps, buses, boats, and walking, with travelers carrying their own supplies. Complete overland crossings of the Darién rainforest on foot and riverboat (i.e., from the last road in Panama to the first road in Colombia) became more dangerous in the 1990s because of the
Colombian conflict. The Colombian portion of the Darién rainforest in the Katios Park region eventually fell under the control of armed groups. Furthermore, combatants from Colombia even entered Panama, occupied some Panamanian jungle villages, and kidnapped or killed inhabitants and travelers. ==Migrants traveling northward==