The Darién gap is a stretch of land between Colombia and Panama, an unavoidable section of the route from South America to Central America that thousands of migrants a week take, as they travel up to the Mexico / United States border. 

It’s been called ‘hell on Earth’ because of its dense and dangerous jungle. There are no roads, just treacherous paths, rivers that can wash you away, vast swamps, steep mountains and deadly animals. And it’s lawless, with cartels and kidnappers taking advantage of the vulnerable migrants. 

The fittest take days to cross, the feeble can table weeks and many do not make it at all. 

And despite all of this, record numbers are still crossing.

Our Latin America correspondent Guillermo Galdos travelled that most dangerous of human trails, and in today’s episode of The Fourcast, he speaks about his journey, the people he met along the way.