Dalama Adventures Tale of two corporate types ditching their jobs and traveling the world for 14 months... check out all photos, blogs & interesting tid bits at http://www.dalama.net

There are some people doing really good work in Panama. In particular, Paul and Jenny Saban, who have recently moved to Boquete from Europe, toil each day to create the beautiful gardens, they call Paradise Gardens. These are no ordinary gardens... Paul and Jenny have built an animal refuge and educational center. They take in endangered animals, and animals that have been harmed, that others have abandoned, and they rehabilitate the animals, with the goal of assisting the animals to live back in their natural environment. They also have taken on the charge of educating others in their community about how to care for, treat, and respect the animals in their environment. In a country where there is not a great focus on educating children from early ages on treating animals properly, children grow up accustomed to hunting and poaching animals, for food, for game, or for profit. They do as their parents have role-modeled for them. Paul and Jenny are helping to create a new generation of educated young people, who will have an impact on their friends and family and how others treat animals. Already, the children are alerting them when new animal babies are found in the wilderness, and how they now seek to protect versus expose them.

The gardens here are beautiful, and prepared by hand, with love. Jenny met us at the park entrance with a little howler monkey who was wearing a diaper. They've got many other animals, such as white-faced capuchin monkey, a margay, green parrots, macaws and a ton of butterflies they're raising, not to mention the other animals that are dropped off by local community members. The green parrots are such a sad story here in Panama, where people will pay premium dollar for "yellow parrots". Local hunters in Panama find the green parrots, dip them in bleach, and sell them along the roadside to unsuspecting buyers. The birds get sick from the bleach, and many end up dying. The green parrots in Paradise Gardens had been rescued, after a recently dunking in bleach. They have been rehabilitated, and their green feathers have grown back. Once they are strong enough, they will be sent back out into the wild to live their lives freely and hopefully away from the hands of evil hunters.

Thanks, Jenny, for the great tour, and it's great to see you and your husband living out your passion caring for animals, and in addition, positively impacting the community and generations to come!