Our Story
A small company with a long memory of these roads.
Our Story
Born in Almaty, raised on the steppe.
Saddle Travel began the way most good journeys do — with people who couldn't stop exploring their own backyard. For more than a decade we've been driving, trekking and riding across Central Asia, learning its roads in every season and weather.
Out of all those miles came a simple conviction: the region is too rich, and too personal, to hand to a fixed group tour. So we built a company that does the opposite — private by default, local at heart, and shaped entirely around the traveler in the passenger seat.
What We Believe
Four things we never compromise on
Private by default
Never a stranger on the bus. Every trip runs with your people and yours alone.
Local first
Local guides, local hosts, local tables. Your money stays in the communities you visit.
Slow where it counts
We'd rather you remember one valley deeply than tick off ten in a blur.
Honest pricing
One clear quote, itemised and final. Nothing appears at the border.
Where We Roam
Four countries, one continuous thread.
Our maps don't stop at borders. From the Tian Shan to the Silk Road and the high Altai, we move across the region the way the old caravans did — one country flowing into the next.
01
Kazakhstan
Red canyons, singing dunes and the peaks above Almaty.
02
Kyrgyzstan
Alpine lakes, yurt camps and high passes on horseback.
03
Uzbekistan
The great Silk Road cities — Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva.
04
Mongolia
The Altai, eagle hunters and the wide open steppe.
The People
The same hands that plan your trip meet you at arrivals.
There's no call centre and no handover. The person who answers your first message helps shape the route — and more often than not is the one waiting at the airport with the engine running.
- check_circleLocal to the last mile — guides born and raised across the region
- check_circleA decade of roads driven, trekked and slept on, in every season
- check_circleWelcomes from yurt families, eagle hunters and mountain hosts we've known for years
We don't think of ourselves as a tour operator. We're the curators of your journey — and we treat every itinerary like it's the only one we'll ever make.
The Saddle Travel Team · Almaty
Kind Words
Travelers who let the steppe cross them
“Our guide read the weather better than any app — we watched a storm roll over Charyn from the only dry spot for miles. Ten days, not one wasted hour.”
“The yurt nights by Song-Köl were the quietest I've ever slept. Saddle handled every border and bumpy road so we never had to think about logistics.”
Let's plan something only you would do.
Tell us your dates and your daydream — the rest is our job.