Tour Guide is a person who familiarizing customers with the locality by transportation or foot, and ensuring that the group remains safe at all times. They are knowledgeable of the geography of the destinations and plan your day according to weather forecasts, the length of the itinerary and schedule.
Local Kyrgyz guides are excellent storytellers and very attentive to customers. They will arrange your transfer; help with accommodation in the hotel; order meals in local restaurant and more.
Our guides will purchase tickets to national parks, local museums, art galleries and other attractions preliminary, if required. They will solve any problems that may arise before and during the tour and make sure tourists are satisfied and taken care of throughout their travels, especially those individuals with special needs.
We offer a service only professional local guides, who handles stressful situations well and are flexible and professional at all times. Our guides are not just experienced and travelers in love with their profession. They are people with a high level of knowledge and responsibility, well-educated and experienced, who will organize your trip safely and interesting.
When you hire mountain guide in Kyrgyzstan, you should be very careful not to be guided by an untrained person. Almost everyone in Kyrgyzstan can identify himself as a guide and offer guiding service at present time. There is no law regulation to control work of mountain guides. However, situation can be changed in nearest future by new tourism legislation, which is under discussion today. How to find information about mountain guides? First of all, the main source is the Kyrgyz Mountain Guides Association (KMGA), which is fool member of IFMGA since 2017. This organization also trains and certifies mountain guides in accordance with UIAGM-IFMGA standard. The Association also developed its own standards and certified by as international (IFMGA), as national standards. If the guide you are planning to work with does not hold KMGA certificate it is worth to request for the references from other clients or from KMGA first.
During a year, porters can be hired only in Bishkek or Karakol, at season time number of porters is based in the area of Lenin Peak. If you are going to any region other than Lenin Peak you have to transport porters from Bishkek or Karakol. You can hire porters only through specialized tour operators or through the Karakol Association of porters. In addition, hiring directly at Lenin Peak base camps can be more expensive than doing such through the agency. As learned from previous experience it’s frequently more reliable and cheaper to hire porters through the tour operators.
It’s better to prepare expedition with the specialized tour operators as they have necessary experience, take responsibility and value their good name. Usually expedition manager is very important stuff member for solving different organizational issues during expedition. As a rule, the issues include supplying, cooperation with authorities and military (at the border posts), providing communication, guarding campsite and stuff management. Often a manager position is combined with other stuff – mountain guide, driver, porter or cook. If there is a local mountain guide in expedition then frequently he performs the duties of the manager. However if there is no guide then the most experienced stuff member can manage the expedition.
Not every good chef can cook in field conditions. Special experience is required. In order to properly plan meals for the day, the cook needs understand what that day will be specifically on the program. If it’s a day of the rest in the mountains, you can have a full breakfast, lunch and dinner or try something unusual, because you don’t need to hurry anywhere. Moreover, if you have to pass a big pass, then you need a light breakfast. Dry snack with hot tea is good enough instead of lunch. You can restore spent calories at the expense of dinner.
It’s more reliable to hire cook for expedition through the specialized tour operator.
You can hire horses only through specialized tour operators or through the Karakol Association of porters. In addition, hiring directly at Lenin Peak base camps can be more expensive than doing such through the agency. The same is with horses for transporting loads from BC to ABC and return. As learned from previous experience it’s frequently more reliable and cheaper to hire horses through the tour operators.