Despite being a paradise for outdoor enthusiasts, Tajikistan doesn't have the fame of mountain nations like Nepal or Peru. Mountain tourism is one of only few economic opportunities for rural Tajikistan. I’m co-author of the Cicerone guidebook Trekking in Tajikistan and want to make a change by creating the world's newest long-distance hiking trail, the Pamir Trail. The Tajik mountains are connected by a vast network of trails, created by shepherds who travel here with their livestock. It is possible to create a more than 1000km hiking route from the Fann Mountains in the northwest of the country all the way to the southern boundary of the Pamirs in the Wakhan Corridor. The route is designed in a way that it will benefit over 52 remote home stays, creating new homestay opportunities for a dozen more and boosts business opportunities for more than a dozen local tour operators. https://www.pamirtrail.org/

Wilderness and high altitude trekking guide. Travel writer and guidebook author. Advocate for emerging, post-conflict adventure destinations.In November 2018 my guidebook Trekking in Tajikistan was published by Cicerone Press, the very first printed trekking guide to this fascinating mountainous country. I guided strenuous trekking expeditions in Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Iraqi Kurdistan (2x), Lebanon, Greenland, Nepal, Uganda, Northern India and the Altiplano of Chile. In February 2017 I led an American expedition with film crew to ski the first descent of Iraq's highest mountain, Halgurd (3607m).I've been mapping new trekking routes for bicycle and on foot in Tajikistan, Afghan Wakhan Corridor, Scotland and Tunisia. I published a hiking guide to Jebel Zaghouan, in Northern Tunisia which is available on Amazon. I published articles and photographs in several outdoor magazines such as BASE Magazine, Wired for Adventure (UK), Trek & Mountain (UK), Sidetracked (UK), Op Pad (NL), Bergen Magazine (NL) Hike and Trekking (NL) and Hoogtelijn (NL).I co-founded the first mountain film festival in Tunisia (Zaghouan Mountain Film Festival - ZMFF), which was held in December 2014 for the first time and saw a successful 6th edition in October 2019. In January 2015 I successfully co-initiated a crowfunding campaign for the development of a rock climbing area in the mountain massif of Zaghouan. In the spring and autumn of 2015 over 150 new rock climbing routes have been bolted.Currently I live in Kampala, Uganda where I explore new mountain trails and develop pioneering expeditions.