About Scarlet Macaw Trips:
As experts in the region, Scarlet Macaw excels both in local knowledge and an understanding of what today's global adventurers seek. Scarlet Macaw Trips is a North-American travel company based in Colombia. Our founders are bi-cultural (roots in Colombia, raised in the USA) and have dedicated themselves to a lifelong understanding of and commitment to the positive promotion of Colombia’s infinite beauty and vitality - one trip at a time. SMT crafts a variety of inspiring and rewarding experiences throughout Colombia with the aim of sharing its magnificence with visitors and promoting the global ripple effect of the intercultural exchanges, activities, and adventures we facilitate.
We offer well-reputed concierge services, have hosted hundreds of tourists (solo travelers, couples, friends, families, and perfect strangers), and have created custom itineraries for groups seeking singular and spectacular experiences in Colombia, such as Global Jet Black and Travel Latina. The combination of opportunities and activities we build for our partners and clients is a unique package; the excursion we create for you will be a customized experience catered specifically to you or your organization/company depending on your overall interests, goals, and imagination.
We are inspired to design hand-crafted itineraries for you, constantly remixing partners, opportunities, and travel ideas for the most fruitful and impactful experiences.
We value conversation + collaboration, perspective + exchange, transparency + respect, accountability + education, and fold these tenets into our trips; we believe in travel with purpose - fun is a given.
Our friends + associates are also committed to sustainable travel, and in supporting each other's projects, products, and endeavors. We are always looking for opportunities to lift our friends up and shine the light on their accomplishments.
We are committed to serving as a conduit between the travel sector and local organizations or individuals and finding mutually beneficial opportunities for visibility and support within current and future projects.
Team
Sahara, Co-Founder
Communications + Development
I spent the first three years of my life in Cali, Colombia, before moving to San Francisco, California with my family. The pull of Colombia was always strong as I was growing up in the Bay Area. After college, I returned to Cali to teach English and live with extended family. After 6 years in New York City, where I studied photojournalism at the International Center of Photography and worked in digital media, I was awarded a Fulbright Research Grant to Cartagena to work with a group of women in the situation of internal displacement. I learned more in intimate and extended personal conversations than in years of academic settings. I fully believe it is our responsibility to teach one another empathy, to look out for, and to bring out the best in one another. I am committed to dovetailing the tourism sector and social sector via creative projects and cross-cultural collaboration.
© Christie Hemm Klok
Brayan, co-founder
Regional Expert + Guide
I was born and raised in Cartagena, Colombia. Since working in international tourism, I've had the privilege of meeting folks from all over the world and have been able to show them, with great pride, the beauty and complexity of this country. Through their eyes, I’ve been able to see my country with a fresh point of view and want to continue to share that sense of awe and excitement with others. There are thousands of birds that call Colombia home but the ‘guacamayo,’ or macaw, has always called to me. In hindsight, I suppose it’s no surprise that I’d find a way to incorporate the spirit of the macaw into this enterprise. The ‘guacamayo’ is big and beautiful, bright and regal. The feathers of the scarlet macaw, in particular, represent the colors of the Colombian flag. The macaw, for me, is a symbol of adventures to come, and of the pride and passion I feel for this company and my country.
Find my personal page for 24/7 Cartagena bookings here and follow along with me here!
See you soon!