Our StoryThe pilot
The pilot
behind WNTT.
Ricardo “Caju” Maciel is a paramotor instructor, traveller and expedition leader. WNTT is what happens when those three things stop competing for time and finally line up.
Travel, told from the air.
WNTT started with a simple question — why does most travel feel rented? You arrive in a place, follow a script someone else wrote, fly home with the same photos as everyone else. For a pilot, that feels especially strange, because the moment you leave the ground a country opens up: light, rivers, scale, the way a town actually meets its landscape. WNTT exists to put that view in the hands of people who want travel to feel personal again.
The first proper expedition came together in late 2020, between lockdowns, when a small group of pilots and friends agreed to meet in Egypt and fly the desert edge near the pyramids. It was small, calm, well-planned. People stayed up at night talking about it for weeks. That trip became the template — small group, careful planning, real local partners, time to actually be there — and the Egypt programme with SkyOne has run on the same principles every year since.
I’m Ricardo, but most people call me Caju. I live in the UK and run our paratrike training school FlyParatrike on the Aveiro coast in Portugal, where I fly almost every week. I’m an APPI Power Master Instructor — the senior teaching grade in the international paramotor system — with over 20 years of expedition flying and more than 1,000 pilots trained across five continents. I organised the Paramotor World Championship in Saquarema and have led expeditions across South America, Egypt, and the Portuguese and Iberian coast. The flying is the easy part. What I actually do for WNTT is the planning, the route, the safety brief, the WhatsApp at 11pm when something needs solving on the ground.
The philosophy is the same on every trip. Small groups so the experience stays sharp. Honest weather and route decisions, even when it’s inconvenient. Local partners we’ve actually worked with. And enough time off the wing that the place itself — the food, the river, the desert at sunset — is half of what you take home. Travel should feel alive. WNTT is just my way of making sure it does.
Credentials
Current ratings.
- APPI Power Master Instructor — senior teaching grade, paramotor
- APPI Tandem Pilot — tandem paramotor operations
- Paramotor maintenance — engine, prop and harness servicing
- First aid for adventure travel — current certification
- Founder & lead instructor, FlyParatrike (Portugal)
Credentials maintained and renewed on the standard APPI cycle. Happy to share copies directly on request.
Routes led
Where we’ve flown.
- SkyOne Egypt — Gate 4 through Gate 8 cycles, 2021 to 2026
- Amazon Expedition — Brazilian Amazon, multi-edition
- Portuguese coast tours — Aveiro, Costa Vicentina, private groups
- Iberian fly-outs — short coastal and inland programmes
- Private custom trips — on request, for small groups of friends or family
Rio coast 2027 and a second Amazon edition are in early planning. Interest lists open through the contact page.
From the trips.
A short visual notebook from recent expeditions. Full galleries live on each trip page.
Safe. Small. Real.
Three words that decide every call we make on a WNTT trip — from the deposit page right through to the last morning briefing.
Safe
Weather windows are read honestly, routes are pre-flown and back-up plans are in place before you land. If a flight shouldn’t happen, it doesn’t — and we always have a strong day-on-the-ground alternative.
Small
Groups are capped early, usually 10 to 16 travellers, so briefings stay personal and local partners can actually look after us. You travel with people, not with a manifest.
Real
Routes are built around places we know — Egypt’s temples and Red Sea, the Amazon river system, the Portuguese coast — with local partners we actually fly and eat with. No staged stops, no filler days.
Featured trip programmes operate with SkyOne (Egypt) and selected regional partners in Brazil and Portugal. Media and press enquiries are welcome at hello@wntraveltrips.com.