About Sula
Where science meets adventure — Colombia’s wildlife, explored with experts who know it best
The Sula Story
Sula was born from a simple idea: Colombia’s extraordinary biodiversity deserves to be experienced through the eyes of those who study and protect it.
Sula was founded by Sara Colmenares — a tropical ecologist with a doctoral degree from the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. She built the brand as a platform to share Colombia’s wildlife stories with the world, combining scientific expertise with a deep passion for the country’s biodiversity.
Sara’s research on tropical ecosystems, supported by a Rufford Foundation grant and published in peer-reviewed journals, gave her deep firsthand knowledge of Colombia’s forests, wetlands, and mountain habitats. That scientific foundation shaped everything about Sula — the content, the recommended routes, and the species highlights all come from real field experience that Sara built up over years of work across Colombia.
While Sara is no longer actively involved in the company, the brand she built lives on. Today, Sula operates as part of Pelecanus Travel, a licensed Colombian tour operator led by Frank, who personally runs the wildlife and nature tourism operations. Many of our videos still feature Sara in the field, reflecting the years of work she invested in documenting Colombia’s biodiversity. Frank continues to develop the Sula offering as an integral part of his broader Colombia travel portfolio.
Meet the Team
Frank Spitzer
Founder & Director, Pelecanus Travel SAS
Frank Spitzer is the owner of Pelecanus Travel and the person behind Sula. Originally from Zürich, Switzerland, he spent 20 years in the financial industry — including Credit Suisse — and served as a First Lieutenant in the Swiss military before making a radical career change. After visiting over 60 countries, he moved to Colombia in 2015, completed an MBA at Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, and built one of the country’s most comprehensive independent travel operations from the ground up — over 30 tourism websites across five languages, a licensed Colombian tour operator, and direct relationships with lodges, guides, and reserves across every region.
He is not a desk-bound operator. Frank has personally driven through 30 of Colombia’s 32 departments to vet roads, hotels, and local partners firsthand. He scouts destinations, tests routes, negotiates directly, and leads tours when the trip calls for it. His YouTube channel, COLOMBIAFRANK, has grown to over 117,000 subscribers — a library of original field documentation covering Colombia’s wildlife, landscapes, and cultural destinations that no other operator in the country can match.
Sula’s wildlife and nature tours are an extension of this hands-on approach. Every itinerary on this site is built from firsthand experience: Frank has visited the hatos of the Llanos, the whale watching operations of Bahía Solano, the poison frog trails of the Chocó and coffee region, and the birding hotspots of the Andes — and documented all of it on camera. When Sara Colmenares originally built the Sula brand with her scientific expertise, Frank was the one making the logistics work. Today, he continues that mission with the same commitment to quality, ethical wildlife tourism, and real field knowledge.
Multilingual and comfortable working with international clients at every level, Frank handles everything from complex multi-destination itineraries to VIP private tours. He is also Colombia’s first dedicated golf tourism operator — a niche he pioneered alongside the wildlife portfolio.
Why Sula Is Different
Science-Backed Expertise
Our content and tours were originally designed by a published tropical ecologist. No guesswork — just real field knowledge from years of biodiversity research across Colombia.
Custom Experiences
Every trip is built around your interests — whether that’s endemic hummingbirds, Amazon wildlife photography, or whale watching on the Pacific coast. No cookie-cutter itineraries.
Licensed & Local
We’re an RNT-certified Colombian tour operator with local guides, direct relationships with reserves, and on-the-ground logistics handled by our Bogotá-based team.
Business Credentials
Company
Pelecanus SAS
NIT: 901012952-7
Tourism License
RNT: 51402
Registro Nacional de Turismo
Registration
Cámara de Comercio
Bogotá, Colombia
Let’s Plan Your Colombia Nature Adventure
Tell us what excites you — birds, mammals, rainforests, marine life — and we’ll design a trip around it.