Islam
Hi there !!!
I am Islam, To be guide, to be representative of my country is my passion. I do love guiding. I will show you KYRGYZSTAN with my pleasure !
BE MY GUEST !
Country: Kyrgyzstan
Services in: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
Role: Certified/licensed Guide
21 open listings
8 received reviews (75% positive, 6/8)
We booked an 11 days Tour with Islam. We had a good communication with him about the trip and he was flexible about the changes we need.
We didn't get Islam as guide, but another guide and driver was arranged. They - Timm and Dimitri - were brilliant. They took good care of us, showed us a lot of the real Kyrgyzstan. The were polite, friendly, helpful and was passionated about their job.
We can recommend Islam as touroperator and especially the guide and driver.
I booked a tour with Islam but did not get a tour with Islam - another tour came up that he was more interested in so he passed me on to someone else who passed me on to someone else. Even though the guide and driver I did get were excellent, they were not who I expected or paid for. I was not told of the changes beforehand, just a day before, and Islam stopped answering any emails or texts once I started asking about specifics. Plus, I was charged for a single room when I was forced to share one. Our last hotel did not have reservations for us as he had cancelled them for some reason. Luckily, rooms were available anyway. Overall the entire booking experience with Islam was terrible and it soured the entire trip. I do not recommend booking with him through this, or any other site.
Excellent itinerary but overall experience of working with Islam
was let down by four things:
1) we were three vegetarians and said so several times beforehand but at many times during the trip this had not be communicated to guides and hotels making it harder for them to cater for us
2) lack of planning - despite booking a few weeks out our accommodation often didn’t seem to be organised until the day of meaning that sometimes we needed to waste time finding somewhere to stay (or go to a different town entirely)
3) after a while Islam just didn’t reply to my messages and just had to work with our driver
4) we had requested a young and fun driver/guide. While our driver was very experienced he was old and somewhat grumpy which put a dampener on our experience.
With a group of 14 people, we spent 14 wonderful days traveling in Northern Kyrgyzstan and Southern Kazakhstan. The organizer and guide of our travel was Islam, young, smiling and warm-hearted. Without his superior organization and expert guidance, our journey would not be half as brilliant. For what we paid, we did not expect such a good choice of accommodation and restaurants. I highly recommend him.
My partner and I did the 14 day Kazakhstan + kragyzstan tour with Islam. We had such a wonderful time!! Islam was an excellent guide and was very knowledgeable and organised throughout the tour and also very fun to hang out with. I liked that we got to see quite a lot of stuff in a short amount of time and everyday we had something fun planned. The driver he choose was also great and always made sure the drive was comfortable for the days that involved a lot of driving, we always had water avalible and good music playing!
Our highlights was the 3 day hike up to Ala-Kul lake, I was a little bit scared coming down the mountain but Islam did a good job helping me down. Our porter and cook were also very nice and experienced, we felt like we were in very good hands! We also liked staying in the yurts which were very cosy! The guest houses and hotels that Islam choose were also very nice and comfortable with friendly hosts and overall the tour was excellent value for money, expecially considering we had a private tour and didn’t need to organise a thing. The restaurants and food that Islam choose were also good and we loved our picnics! The only negative part of the trip was that we didn’t have more time to spend there... So we will have to organise another trip to go back.
:-)
Islam wasn't able to make this tour but he arranged for us to have a driver who took us everywhere we wanted to go. Islam has been great at being in contact and the driver was great too. I would use Islam again if I went to Kyrgyzstan.
Traveling with Islam was so much fun! We would definitely recommend Islam as a tour guide. We went on a 3 day tour with him and he told us a lot of facts and showed us the real Kyrgyzstan. He is a reliable, flexible and fun tour guide. He really makes sure you have a great time! Me and my friends had the best time in Kyrgyzstan thanks to Islam.
Having just finished the tailor-made trip with Islam, we can only recommend him.warmly to other tourists. First of all, hus English is excellent which makes communication and travelling easy. Second, Islam not inky has extensive knowledge about his country, he also speaks openly and hinestly about Kyrgyzstan traditions and heritage as well as current developments - being with him and talking really made it possible to understand the country and its people. Third: he is a nice person and great fun to be with. If you spend a few days together that's just as important as getting a good prize or having all the sights explained I think. Fourth, he was always prepared to go the extra mile for us and made spontaneous changes according to our wishes it was raining for example.
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