The San Blas Range (Spanish: Cordillera de San Blas or Serranía de San Blas) is a mountain range in eastern

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

. It extends east and west parallel to the Caribbean coast south of the

San Blas Islands The San Blas Islands of Panama is an archipelago comprising approximately 365 islands and cays, of which 49 are inhabited. They lie off the north coast of the Isthmus of Panama, east of the Panama Canal. A part of the ''comarca'' (district) Gun ...

. The range is part of the

Continental Divide of the Americas The Continental Divide of the Americas (also known as the Great Divide, the Western Divide or simply the Continental Divide; ) is the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas. The Continental Divide extends from t ...

. The north slope is drained by numerous short rivers which drain into the Caribbean, while the southern slope is drained by the

Bayano River Bayano River is a river of Panama in the Panamá Province. It is an alternative name for the upper part of the Chepo River. It is named after Bayano, the leader of a slave revolt and ruler of a kingdom of former slaves in 16th century Panama. ...

, which empties into the Pacific Ocean. The San Blas Range adjoins the Chagres Highlands on the west. The divide continues to the southeast as the

Serranía del Darién The Serranía del Darién is a small mountain range on the border between Colombia and Panama in the area called the Darién Gap. It is located in the southeastern part of the Darién Province of Panama and the northwestern part of the Chocó ...

.Palka, E.J. (2005). A Geographic Overview of Panama. In: Harmon, R.S. (eds) The Río Chagres, Panama. Water Science and Technology Library, vol 52. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3297-8_1James A. Kushlan, George R. Angehr, and Kirsten Hines. Seabirds and other colonial waterbirds of the Caribbean coast of Panama. ''Journal of Caribbean Ornithology'', Vol. 30 No. 2 (2017). DOI: https://doi.org/10.55431/jco.2017.30(2).145-153 It is one of the four mountain ranges in Panama. It is home to Cerro Cartí, measuring 748 meters. The range intercepts moist northeasterly prevailing winds from the Caribbean Sea, creating a year-round wet climate on the Caribbean slope with 2,500 to more than 6,000 mm of rainfall per year. Lowland evergreen rain forest grows in the coastal lowlands, with submontane evergreen forest above 500 meters elevation and cloud forest on the highest-elevation ridges. The range is home to several threatened species of birds, including the speckled antshrike,

crested eagle The crested eagle (''Morphnus guianensis'') is a large Neotropical eagle. It is the only member of the genus ''Morphnus''. The crested eagle can grow up to long, with a wingspan up to , and weigh up to . The plumage varies between a light br ...

harpy eagle The harpy eagle (''Harpia harpyja'') is a large Neotropical realm, neotropical species of eagle. It is also called the American harpy eagle to distinguish it from the Papuan eagle, which is sometimes known as the New Guinea Harpy Eagle, New Guin ...

great curassow The great curassow (''Crax rubra'') is a large, pheasant-like bird from the Neotropical rainforests, its range extending from eastern Mexico, through Central America to western Colombia and northwestern Ecuador. Male birds are black with curly c ...

russet-crowned quail-dove The russet-crowned quail-dove (''Zentrygon goldmani'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is found in Panama and far northwestern Colombia. Taxonomy and systematics The russet-crowned quail-dove was originally described in genu ...

, and

blue-and-gold tanager The blue-and-gold tanager (''Bangsia arcaei'') is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae. It is native to the Talamancan montane forests and the Serranía del Darién. It is threatened by habitat loss. References

Bangsia, blue-and-gol ...

. Native mammals include the

giant anteater The giant anteater (''Myrmecophaga tridactyla'') is an Insectivore, insectivorous mammal native to Central America, Central and South America. It is the largest of the four living species of anteaters, which are classified with sloths in the or ...

silky anteater The silky anteater, also known as the pygmy anteater, has traditionally been considered a single species of anteater, ''Cyclopes didactylus'', in the genus ''Cyclopes'', the only living genus in the family Cyclopedidae. Found in southern Mexico ...

, northern naked-tailed armadillo,

Geoffroy's tamarin Geoffroy's tamarin (''Saguinus geoffroyi''), also known as the Panamanian, red-crested or rufous-naped tamarin, is a tamarin, a type of small monkey, found in Panama and Colombia. It is predominantly black and white, with a reddish nape. Diu ...

Panamanian night monkey The Panamanian night monkey or Chocoan night monkey (''Aotus zonalis'') is a species of night monkey formerly considered a subspecies of the gray-bellied night monkey of the family Aotidae. Its range consists of Panama and the Chocó region ...

brown-headed spider monkey The brown-headed spider monkey (''Ateles fusciceps fusciceps'') is a critically endangered subspecies of the black-headed spider monkey, a type of New World monkey, found in northwestern Ecuador. Its type locality is at 1500 m in the Hacienda C ...

, Central American spider monkey, Panamanian spiny pocket mouse,

capybara The capybara or greater capybara (''Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris'') is the largest living rodent, native to South America. It is a member of the genus '' Hydrochoerus''. The only other extant member is the lesser capybara (''Hydrochoerus isthmi ...

crab-eating raccoon The crab-eating raccoon, southern raccoon, or South American raccoon (''Procyon cancrivorus'') is a species of raccoon native to marshy and jungle areas of Central and South America (including Trinidad and Tobago). It is found from Costa Rica so ...

neotropical river otter The neotropical otter or neotropical river otter (''Lontra longicaudis'') is a near-threatened (per the IUCN) otter species found in freshwater systems from Mexico and Central America through mainland South America, as well as the island of Trini ...

ocelot The ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis'') is a medium-sized spotted Felidae, wild cat that reaches at the shoulders and weighs between on average. It is native to the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, Central and South America, ...

margay The margay (''Leopardus wiedii'') is a small wild cat native to Mexico, Central and South America. A solitary and nocturnal felid, it lives mainly in primary evergreen and deciduous forest. Until the 1990s, margays were hunted for the wildl ...

jaguarundi The jaguarundi (''Herpailurus yagouaroundi''; or ) is a wild felidae, cat native to the Americas. Its range extends from central Argentina in the south to northern Mexico, through Central America, Central and South America east of the Andes. T ...

, puma,

jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...

, and

Baird's tapir The Baird's tapir (''Tapirus bairdii''), also known as the Central American tapir, is a species of tapir native to Mexico, Central America, and northwestern South America. It is the largest of the three species of tapir native to the Americas, a ...

. Narganá Wilderness Area, which is managed by the indigenous

Guna people The Guna (also spelled Kuna or Cuna) are an Indigenous people of Panama and Colombia. Guna people live in three politically autonomous '' comarcas'' or autonomous reservations in Panama, and in a few small villages in Colombia. There are also co ...

, covers the northern slope of the range from the crest to the Caribbean coast.BirdLife International (2025) Site factsheet: Área Silvestre de Narganá. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/nargan%C3%A1-wildlands-area on 24 May 2025.

References

Mountain ranges of Panama {{Panama-geo-stub