• e-mail

Migrants from all over the world are flocking to Central America to make the trek toward the U.S. after the border between Colombia and Panama reopened.

Thousands of these travelers, who plan to eventually reach the U.S. as the border crisis surges, are passing through the town of Necocli, Columbia before the dangerous trip through the rainforest of southern Panama.

The two nations vowed last week to impose order on the migrant flows as they seek support from allies, including the U.S., after the number of travelers stranded in Necocli topped 10,000.

The majority of the migrants moving through the Colombian town are Haitian or Cuban, fleeing dire economic circumstances in their homelands. There are several others, however, traveling from much further away – like African nations of Ghana, Egypt and Mali.

Colombia and Panama, whose borders separate South and Central Americas, reopened its borders after closing them in May to concerns of COVID-19.

Migrants from all over the world who are stranded in Necocli, Colombia wait in line on August 2 for tickets for a boat to take them to the border with Panama so they can trek through Central America to the U.S. 

Residents of Necocli watch as Haitian migrants stranded there enjoy a day on the beach on July 29, 2021

This led to a massive increase in abroad arrivals and cities getting inundated with caravans of people planning to trek from South American, through Central America, to the U.S.-Mexico border.

This comes as July numbers of encounters, reportedly topping 210,000, now brings President Joe Biden to seeking well more than 1 million illegal crossings in just over six months as president.

Panama is home to the world's most dangerous rainforest – The Darien jungle.

The area between South and Central America has some of the most dangerous routes in the world due to its mountainous terrain, wildlife, insects and the large presence of criminal organizations.

The number of migrants making the trip through the jungle has surged nearly 20-fold since the start of this year as more and more migrants try to reach the U.S.

The movement has overwhelmed towns along the route and threatened to further aggravate the prevailing crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Migrants from 30 countries, including Haiti, Cuba, Ghana, Egypt, Mail, Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, Uzbekistan and Angola have been stranded in Colombia after the border with Panama closed in May. Here stranded migrants wait at a port entrance in Necocli on July 30, 2021

The influx in international migrations comes as Customs and Border Protection said 188,829 migrants were stopped at the southwest border in June and reports clam another 210,000 were encountered in July

More than 19,000 migrants walked to Panama from Colombia last month, according to Panama's Foreign Affairs Ministry.

In January only 1,007 made the same trip.

The travelers came from more than 30 different countries, including Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, Uzbekistan, Angola, Egypt, Haiti and Cuba. The latter two are the most numerous.

Simon Gyamfi, a 42-year-old from Ghana, fled his country and traveled for more than a year by ship, bus and car from Africa in hopes of making it to the U.S.

The Christian carpenter fled due to a dispute with his late wife's Muslim family and landed after a month-long ocean voyage in Brazil, according to Reuters.

The closure of borders due to the coronavirus pandemic left him stranded there for months.

Now, after the frontiers finally reopened, he has made his way by road to the northern Colombian town of Necocli, a gateway for migrants heading northward into Central America.

Every year, thousands of migrants pass through the small town, looking to catch a boat across the Gulf of Uraba toward the jungles of the Darien Gap on the isthmus of Panama.

There, human smugglers guide groups across the wild, road-less region, one of the most treacherous barriers on the clandestine route to the U.S.

Now that border closures have lifted, the number of migrants arriving in Necocli is soaring.

In a typical year, an estimated 30,000 migrants pass through Necocli. But by August of this year, 25,000 have already been through, according to Colombian government figures.

Panama's Foreign Affairs ministry said it expects to receive over 70,000 migrants crossing the country en route to the U.S. by the end of 2021, an unprecedented number in the country's history.

Usually the number of people emerging from the rainforest slows around this time of year due to heavy rain making the route more hazardous, but the numbers are spiking, Panama Foreign Minister Erika Mouynes told Bloomberg.

Migrants are waiting to take the trek through the southern Panama Darien jungle – one of the most dangerous rainforests in the world

'It is, in normal conditions, one of the rainiest places in the world. And when you add the rainy season, it is extremely muddy, and very difficult,' Mouynes said in a Monday interview.

'We were thinking that those numbers were going to go down. That's not been the case.'

She also revealed that fewer than 1 per cent of the migrants arriving in Panama on foot are seeking asylum as they want to continue north to eventually reach the U.S.

Necocli has been struggling to accommodate migrants from Latin America and beyond - many of them driven by the economic hardship worsened by the pandemic - clamoring for scarce places on boats across the Gulf.

Thousands crowd hotels and the beach as they wait weeks for a spot.

Gyamfi had been in Necocli for almost a week, paying $7 a night for a hotel room.

'The journey has been hard and full of surprises. Last month, a friend of mine died on the road,' said the widowed carpenter, who hopes to save enough to bring his young daughter to join him if he reaches the United States.

'It takes a lot of money to get here and great risks.'

Necocli became a staging area for migrants just five years ago. Though it has thrived by charging migrants in dollars, not Colombian pesos, local officials say public services and housing in the town of 20,000 are not robust enough to cope with recent numbers.

Across the border in Panama, there are currently 3,000 migrants living temporarily in camps.