Katja first arrived in beautiful Ciudad Colon, Costa Rica,  in August of 2001 through an internship at a local travel agency. While the start was a little rough on her first night, due to a nationwide power outage during heavy rain at night, leaving her feeling like a strange rainforest adventure ,the following day she found herself waking up in the sunny and highly populated  central valley. During her internship she met her former husband and stayed in Costa Rica until 2003 when both decided to make the move to Germany. Back in Germany, Katja started to work for a German travel agency, called travel-to-nature GmbH, where she was responsible for expanding the destination Costa Rica. But a big piece of her heart was still in Costa Rica so she decided to move back to the tropics after living in Germany for six years.

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In 2009, Katja and her former husband made the decision to move back to Costa Rica and founded Kalkonu Travel. Adopted from the language of the indigenous tribe of the Bribri, Kalkonu indicates the love towards nature. In Bribri the meaning can furthermore be described as the love towards rivers, forests, animals and plants.

Ever since then, Katja is head of the company and, together with her team, she designs trips through Costa Rica. Mainly covering the German, Swiss and Austrian market but also for costumers from Mexico, Canada and the United States of America. Since the very first day Kalkonu Travel is known for its outstanding costumer service, promptness and efficiency & exceptional travel performance.

Katja’s daughter, Kira, gives her a lot of energy every day and is the biggest source of inspiration.