Our story

I was born in 2001 and grew up in Kyrgyzstan. I’ve always loved hiking and mountaineering, so studying tourism management made sense. The guiding came naturally from there.

One place I keep coming back to is Karakol — a small city near the Chinese border, built around a Russian imperial fortress, which brought together a mix of cultures, nationalities, and ways of life that you can still feel on the streets today. And it sits right at the foot of the Tian-Shan, so the hiking is incredible.

Off-season I work at a local inbound agency, which keeps me connected to the industry all year.

I was born in southern Kazakhstan, just 20 minutes from a city that is over 1,500 years old. Maybe that is why history always felt personal to me. I studied Translation Studies, then moved to Almaty for university and never really left. Guiding was not the plan. A travel agency invited me to work with them, and one day they suggested I try leading tours. From the very first day I was in love with it.

Off-season, I join other guides’ tours. I know that sounds a little odd! But it helps me see my city with fresh eyes, and I always learn something new. Also – I am a big extrovert. I just cannot stay home. I need people around me all the time.

If you ask me what my favorite place is, I will tell you it is like being handed a beautiful bouquet and asked to pick just one flower. Impossible.

My advice: please, wear comfortable shoes!

I’m from Turkmenistan; a teacher by training and a traveler by heart. The first country I ever visited was Ukraine, where I studied, and I used every chance to explore it. When I came back home, teaching felt like something was missing. A friend invited me on a tour one day, and that was it — I realized I could combine both things.

My favorite place in Ashgabat is a café called Hiroo — a small, cozy spot with a Japanese theme. I go there to sit with a cappuccino and a book and completely lose track of time. Off-season I read about history, work on new tour ideas, and travel locally to find places I can later show to visitors.

Central Asia is still unknown to many people, and it’s often different from what you’ve read online. Travel has a way of showing you how much we all have in common.

Bekhruz Kurbanov is the head of the Bukhara branch of the Samarkand Institute of Archaeology, Uzbekistan. He previously served as a lecturer in the Department of Archaeology and History of Bukhara at Bukhara State University and as head of the Coins and Epigraphy Department at the Bukhara State Art-Architectural Museum. Currently, he is a PhD candidate in the History of Islamic Art and Archaeology at the University of Bamberg, where his dissertation “Linden-Museum Candlestick: On Style in Medieval Metalwork from Khurasan” is supervised by Professor Lorenz Korn.
Kurbanov has participated in several international academic projects, including “Khurasan: Land of the Rising Sun. A Cultural Landscape as Center for the Formation of Material Culture in the Islamic World, and its Place in Collections and Museums” and “Artistic Metal of Māwarannahr and Semirechye: Between Arabs and Mongols.”

Farhodbek is a university professor in Dushanbe, teaching cross-cultural communication and English grammar. He has been combining that with tour guiding for 15 years.

He fell into it out of a love for travel and culture, and stayed because guiding gives him something teaching alone doesn’t: constant movement, new people, and the chance to show Tajikistan to visitors who have never seen it.

His favorite places are the Fann Mountains, and the cities of Samarkand and Bukhara across the border — places he never gets tired of, as a guide or as a person. Off-season he focuses on teaching, updates his materials, and goes to guide training when he can.

Farrukh is the eldest son of a family where everyone works in tourism. He followed them into it. He has been a national guide in Uzbekistan since 2010 and a tour leader across Central Asia since 2016. He is married, has three children, and loves his job.

His favorite places are Ashgabat and Khiva. Off-season he spends time with family.

I’m based in Almaty, and I love this city – especially when the weather is warm and you can just walk the streets and feel it all around you. Nature pulls at me too. I find it hard to choose between the two.

Off-season I do Pilates, go to dance class, see my friends, and slowly start preparing for the next season. Life doesn’t stop just because the tours do!

My name means “my flower” in Kyrgyz. I like that. It suits how I feel about this country. I spent years teaching English and working as a professional interpreter before I found my way into tourism in 2018. Looking back, it makes sense. I have always loved exploring my homeland, and I always wanted to share that feeling with someone. Guiding let me do both at once.

Every place I take people to has its own soul. A hidden mountain trail, an open steppe that goes on forever – I never get tired of any of it. Asking me to pick a favorite is a little like asking me to pick a favorite breath of air. When the season ends I keep busy. I teach English privately, go to workshops, visit family. I think of it as time to sharpen everything so I am ready when the next group arrives.

Humoyun is 31, a father of two, and has been guiding for almost nine years. He lives in a village where, when the season ends, he goes back to his other job: teaching English to school children.

For him, guiding is not just work – it’s also a hobby. He loves nature and he loves meeting people, and the job gives him both.

His favorite place is the Fann Mountains. He has been leading tours through Central Asia long enough to have seen a lot, but that hasn’t changed.

Janybek is a civil engineer from Bishkek — that’s what he studied, and it’s what he does for most of the year. But every summer he comes back to guiding. He started during university vacations as a way to fill the time, and it turned out to be his favorite job. His favorite place is Issyk-Kul.

I’m from Turkmenistan. I studied finance at Waldorf University in the United States, and while I was there I discovered traveling. That was probably the most useful thing I learned.

I work at Ayan Travel now, and off-season I stay busy exploring new places, getting information, preparing for what comes next. I’m also a big football fan. I read books. I like discovering new things.

My favorite place from a recent trip was Bukhara — everywhere you look, there is history.

Nazgul has been guiding for more than 12 years. Her main job is teaching, and she works at a university in the off-season. She started guiding because she loves to travel and meet people, and it turned out to be a natural fit alongside her teaching career.

Her favorite place is Issyk-Kul Lake. She spends her free time in nature, attends courses to keep developing, and is married.

I graduated as an interpreter of English and German. I like history and culture, and when I finished university and got a job offer from a tour company, it made sense. I’ve been guiding since 2007.

My wife is also a tour guide, which means we understand each other’s schedule. We have a son. I like hiking, I read history books, I do sports off-season, and I visit my parents. I also sometimes talk too much — I hope that after long trips away my son still recognizes me when I get home.

Two favorite places: the mountains of Kyrgyzstan for nature, and Bukhara, where time seems to have stopped.

The best thing you can do while in Central Asia? Stop and talk to local people. That’s always the best part of any trip.

I was born in 1990 in a small cotton-growing village. I studied English in Khujand, then worked as an English teacher for some years. But the mountains kept pulling me in another direction. In 2012 I became a guide, and I’ve been doing it ever since. I’m married with four children.

I love Iskanderkul and the narrow backstreets of Bukhara. Off-season I teach English and spend time with my family.

My advice: come with an open heart and a curious mind. The mountains, the cities, the people – they all have stories. The more you listen, the better your trip will be.

Rifat is 34, married, with two kids. He is also a football coach — that’s his off-season life. He has been guiding for 13 years, which started when a friend invited him to try something new. He liked it and stayed.

His favorite place is the south shore of Issyk-Kul. He describes himself as a nomad who doesn’t like to sit at home.

From a young age, my thing was telling stories about our family and showing our home to guests. Guiding is just a bigger version of that — the same impulse, but for people who come from much further away.

I’ve been doing this for eight years. I specialize in cultural tours, trekking, and horseback riding. Once I had the chance to spend a full month living with real shepherds during the filming of a documentary. That stays with you.

My favorite place is the Son-Kul area. Far from everything, no phone signal worth speaking of, and you spend a few days in nomadic life and realize that the world looks completely different without a screen in your hand.

I was born in 1991 in Basmanda, a village in northern Tajikistan. I went to school there, then moved to Khujand to study English and International Relations at the university. I’ve lived in Khujand ever since.

I didn’t know tour guiding was a profession until one of my teachers at university — who worked as a guide part-time — invited me and a friend along on a tour. She wanted us to practice our English. Later, a local agency sent us to Panjakent as assistant guides. I realized this job was a combination of everything I was interested in: management, history, culture, geography, languages. The agency thought we were too young. I disagreed. I started as an assistant and kept going until I was leading groups on my own.

That was 2011. I’m now married with three children. My hobbies are collecting banknotes and reading Persian poetry.

If I had to choose one place in Central Asia: Khiva, especially at sunset. In Tajikistan, the Bartang Valley — particularly the village of Sawnob.

My advice: let’s travel in a way that doesn’t destroy the authenticity of this region.

I was born in Bishkek and have lived here my whole life.

About ten years ago I was really into hiking in the mountains. I didn’t become a professional athlete, which is probably fine. But through all that time outdoors I met a lot of wonderful people, many of them working in tourism, and they said: go do the guide training courses. So I did. I enjoyed the whole process, and suddenly I was traveling more, going further, meeting people from everywhere in the world.

I used to do paragliding and skiing too. These days I’m not chasing extreme things anymore – but I still love an adventure.

My favorite place is the southern shore of Issyk-Kul Lake. The locations, the yurt camps, the people there.

Off-season I rest, read, catch up on everything I didn’t have time for during summer. We’ve also been building something in recent years – a community of guides who like to keep learning. We organize history lectures and excursions with local experts. It keeps the mind busy in the quiet months.

For travelers coming here: be ready for all four seasons, sometimes in one week. Talk to locals – they are genuinely friendly people. And if your stomach acts up, don’t let it ruin your trip. It happens. Keep going.

Umid has been working in tourism for more than 20 years. He is married with three children. He likes fishing, watching documentaries, and reading about history.

He became a guide because he enjoys meeting people, loves sharing culture, and likes to tell stories. His favorite place is Kyrgyzstan — the nature, the landscape, the people.

Off-season he studies, travels, improves his skills, and prepares for the next season.

His advice: enjoy every moment, respect the local culture, stay open to new experiences.

I was born and grew up in Ashgabat. I studied linguistics – English, French, Spanish – at the Minsk State Linguistic University in Belarus, then spent ten years back home working in media, writing articles, doing design work. In 2024 I made a change and moved into tourism.

Turkmenistan is still an unknown country for most people in the world. I like being the one who explains it.

My favorite place in my city is the airport. Make of that what you will.

Off-season I prepare for the next season. My advice: be flexible, be easygoing, and enjoy Central Asia.