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Mikail is always in search of new routes both for himself and for his groups. From the unique highlands of the Eastern Blacksea to the beautiful Lycia on the south, from the gorgeous canyons of Kastamonu to the Floodplain Forests of Thrace, Mikail promises unique experiences in the nature.
- He is originally from Artvin Şavşat.
- He has a mountaineering licence from the Mountaineering Federation.
- He joined various mountaineering activities and lead groups all around Turkey, mainly in the Kaçkar Mountains (Rize/Artvin).
- He is the creator of many ecotourism/trekking itineraries which are still very popular and continues to create more.
- He has appeared several times on Iz TV - Turkey's first and only documentary channel.
- Together with his lovely wife Selcen, they moved from Istanbul to Selcen’s hometown Izmir where he founded Turkeyarchaeotrek.
Professional Tour Guide -
Archaeologist
Serra was born in 1982 in Izmir to an English mother and a Turkish father. While travelling through Europe and Turkey with her family in her early life she realized that an office job was not the right job for her and she decided to get to know the depths of her land and sea by studying classical archaeology at Ege University and obtaining a diving certificate.
She worked at the excavations of Antandros for 7 years as a student and then as an archaeologist. She got her Master’s degree at the same university and while doing so she started to learn Italian and spent 6 months in Italy. On her return she took a course to become a professional tour guide and received her guiding license in 2007. Having learnt Italian she decided to learn Spanish and also Portuguese. In the early stages of her professional life she travelled the world, spending at least one month, if not two, in a wide range of countries. From 2007 until 2017 Serra focused on her work in the tourism sector, doing mostly archaeological tours and trekking tours all around Turkey. In the summer of 2017 she started working at the Aphrodisias Excavation Project and in 2019 she started a doctorate program as an Ertegun scholar at the University of Oxford. At the times when she is not in England, Serra continues to conduct tours in Turkey for Baska Rota.
Professional Tour Guide -
Archaeologist
Ozan is a graduate of Galatasaray High School and studied archaeology and visual communication at Kocaeli University. He is studying for his Masters degree in History of Architecture at Istanbul Technical University. He joined archaeological excavations at Istanbul, Kocaeli, Osmaniye, Sagalassos and Larissa. In 2010-2011 he lead activites with 10-12 year children in order to develop their cultural consciousness, organized by the Association of Archaeologists. He has been leading nature tours in Eastern Black-Sea, Afyon, Eskişehir, Muğla, Fethiye, Antalya, Çorum and Kocaeli since 2010. He organizes tours where he combines archaeology with nature walks. He is the creator of the term Archaeo-Trek and creates unique itineraries and guides groups on our archaeo-trekking tours.
He was born in Ankara in 1983. He served as the regional manager in many sports and entertainment festivals with the participation of universities from many cities in Turkey.
After completing his university education in Ankara, he worked in corporate companies in the fields of investment and business development for almost 10 years in Istanbul. Alper, who has experience in the fields of tourism and organization since his university life, is also a part-time DJ. He is responsible for business development and organization in Başka Rota family.
He loves nature and animals. Alper, a former licensed athlete, has been living with sports since childhood and he is interested in hiking, fitness and kitesurfing. He has also been interested in performing arts since school years and continues his education. His love of nature and sports brought him to Başka Rota
Emrah was born in Eskişehir in 1984 where he spent his whole childhood. He went on to study biology at Kafkas University in Kars and received his Master’s degree at the same University.
Emrah started to work at the KuzeyDoğa Association as project coordinator in 2008. He became the scientific coordinator in 2010. His wildlife adventures that started with birds, still continues with bears, wolves and lynxes for their protection and registration.
Mountain Guide
Osman was born in 1975 in Malatya and has lead a life of outdoor sports since 1995. He reached top levels of experience in mountaineering, rock-climbing, kayak, rafting, kanyoning and trekking. He has been a member of AKUT Search and Rescue Association and he still continues to do work in the field of search and rescue. Osman is a trainer for Outdoor Sports and accompanies our groups in mountain treks, nature walks and sports trainings.
Hale left the world of domesticated women living in warm houses to discover the green forests, majestic mountains, valleys with water gushing from every corner and paths washed with rain water. She left behind a 10 year carrier in the corporate world and took off for an alternative lifestyle in 2012. Since then she has lead a nomadic life in Europe and America, travelling from country to country.
Hale is a bicycle activist. She is currently pedalling from the southern tip of Patagonia towards the northern tip of Alaska. She is following the traces of the shamanic culture on the American continent. She takes yoga training at the countries she visits and gives yoga lessons to fellow travellers.
Hale leads social responsibility projects in order to found bicycle clubs at village schools in Turkey and to support women of the world who try to earn a living through their own handcrafts.
Hale has made Latin America her home for the past 4 years, she guides visitors around the various parts of the continent, tells them stories that are not written in the guidebooks and introduces them the true essence of Latin America.
Hale shares all her adventures in her blog www.isimgucumgezmek.com
Mountain Guide
Gökhan was born in Izmir in 1977. He is a graduate of Bolu Göynük High-School. He continues his university studies today on work and safety expertise and business management. Being the child of a military officer, he travelled to every corner of Turkey and at the age of 18 returned to Izmir, his hometown. He never seized to travel. In 2006 he joined a mountaineering club and took his first step towards becoming a professional of his passion for the nature. In April 2011 he met his wife on a tour in Bafa. Their son Mirza Demir was born in 2014 – a child with a mountaineer father and a caver mother who will hopefully also become a nature lover himself. After a long interval he finalized his training at the Turkey Mountaineering Federation and joined many expeditions to Aladağlar, Western Taurus, Erciyes and Uludağ. He also does rock-climbing and scuba diving with a 3 star CMAS certificate. He worked at a private company in the search and rescue department. He took training for Offroad and Snow Motorcycle. Today he leads groups in the mountains around Izmir. He takes Başka Rota groups to the undiscovered corners of the beautiful Aegean region.
Şebnem’s journey into the world of yoga began when she was studying computer engineering in 2003. In those days there weren’t enough yoga instructors nor were there many places to practice yoga in Turkey. Şebnem received her certificate as a yoga instructor after participating in the Swami Vivekananda University workshops carried out in Turkey. In order to widen her knowledge Şebnem travelled to India and participated in the PGDYT Yoga Therapy education and received her diploma. On her return to Turkey she started working as a therapist in her own studio. She also started to train yoga instructors. During this period she hosted many foreign yoga instructors at Yogha.
With the aim of developing her communication skills and for a better understanding of human relationships Şebnem completed her training in Comprehensive Coaching at FA Coach Academy which enabled her to have a more inclusive outlook during her yoga sessions. One of the most influential training and initiation that she took was from Dalai Lama at Dhramsala. There she received the name Tenzin Norzin “Dharma’s Jewel”. In the same year she widened her vision and experiences even more with the “Awaken the Giant Within!” training she took from Tony Robbins.
She is currently running her own yoga studio Yogha and in various other establishments.
Professional Tour Guide
Mahmut has worked as a tour guide for 20 years and has been in the tourism industry for a total of 25 years. He has worked for several well-known agencies and continues to operate the Central European tours of a prominent agency. After his graduation from the department of history and theology in the USA he got a second bachelor’s degree in Opera and Singing in Istanbul. As a passionate student he is doing a third degree in History at Anadolu University. He has guided many tours in Europe, the USA and the Far East. He has his own followers due to his rhetorical and easy-to-follow way of explaining the visited sites. Mahmut also loves to sing and play the guitar and tours guided by him are always full of fun.
Nezihi Gözen
Teacher of Photography
Nezihi is responsible of following the digital photography processes and its arrangement. He specializes in digital photography and its editing techniques. He organizes photography tours and field trips in various destinations.
He gives information on basic photography, light information, photography techniques, DSLR, practical usage methods of mirrorless cameras. He is a member of IFSAK Istanbul Amateur Photography and Cinema Society and has been tutoring at IFSAK since 2009. He organizes lessons on digital Photography/Imagery, Discussions and Lightroom workshops.
He also assists projects at IFSAK. He is Turkey’s first Adobe Lightroom specialist and teacher. He gives one-to-one and online lessons at various establishments and private photography workshops on product introduction, field trips, and Lightroom/Photoshop/Camera RAW. He gives seminars for various brands on digital photography and computer editing.
He writes articles for Fotoğraf magazine and other platforms. He also writes articles for his own website and other websites on photograph editing and modern photography. He has been a founding member of Artifotoğraf Prodüksiyon since 2009 and continues his work as a digital photography editor.
Mustafa was born in Ankara in 1976 and graduated from French interpretation at Hacetepe University in Ankara in 2001.
He started nature sports in 1995 at the Hacettepe Mountaineering and Nature Sports Club (Hüddosk) and completed his training in 1995-1996 becoming a professional in the field of mountaineering. He participated in all the boards within Hüddosk and led groups and trained new students.
Mustafa has climbed over 500 mountain peaks in Turkey and abroad. He has been guiding groups in Lycia since 1997 and continues to lead groups in Chile, Argentina, Kenya, Tanzania, Switzerland, France, Nepal and Tibet.
Mustafa is also an avid rock climber and guides rock-climbing groups in Geyikbayırı and Olympos. He was active in the creation of the rock climbing routes in Geyikbayırı, Olympos, Karakaya, Aladağlar and Isparta. Mustafa is a consultant for United Nations Rural Development Projects and an author for Atlas magazine.
Mustafa continues to guide mountain, trekking and rock-climbing tours and is a member of Akdeniz University nature sports club and Akut Search and Rescue Association. He gives lessons on nature sports and mountaineering at Koc University and resides in Antalya Geyikbayırı.
Övünç D. Özsoy
Professional Tour Guide
Övünç was born in Izmir in 1977. She went to London to travel and to learn English in 1997. She worked for various travel agencies’ global services departments between 1998-2001 and 2012-2015. She became a professional tour guide in 2002 and completed various specialization programs in guiding between 2004-2013. She lived in Istanbul for 15 years and guided guests mainly from the USA all around Turkey. In 2015 she took her backpack and did a Greece and Balkan tour, visiting her grandparents’ hometown Sarajevo and Plovdiv and completed course on Guiding in the Black-Sea in 2016 before she settled back in her hometown Izmir. She now guides Turkish tours mainly in the Balkans and the Blacksea region. She just started her studies in art history at Ege University and lives on her parents’ farm in Izmir Kavacık, where they do organic farming. She guides Başka Rota tours in the small and authentic villages of the Aegean and the Balkans.
Yoga Teacher
Müge was born in Istanbul and lived in Vienna during which she started concentrating on yoga. She worked with many yoga teachers following various ecoles of yoga, and finally adopted the styles that she found closest to herself and made it her lifestyle. She obtained her teaching certificate in 2007 in California Grass Valley Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm and started her professional life as a yoga teacher. Apart from private lessons, Müge has made her career in prominent establishments such as Life&Co, Yogaşala, Rixos Hotel and still continues in Acarkent Collessium Sports Center. Müge combines her passions for yoga with her love for nature and discovering new places and joins several of our activities as a yoga teacher.
Story-teller
Sıla was born in 1986 in Izmir and was actually not brought up in a house where story-telling was a popular pass-time as one may think. Instead, she graduated from Süleyman Demirel University Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Performing Arts. She is now writing her masters thesis at Dokuz Eylül University Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Theater. She started story-telling in 2014 after a course she took with Judith Liberman. Since then she has been telling stories to her own daughter, to other children and to adults. She continues her studies at the Seiba International School of Story-Telling founded by Nazlı Çevik. Sıla loves the idea of “story-telling while travelling” and joins groups on our special story-telling tours.
Yunus graduated from the department of Classical Archaeology at Akdeniz University in Antalya in 2005 and has been professionally guiding visitors from all over the world since 2003. After carrying out many tours on the Lycian Trail, Yunus came up with the idea to create a similar trail in the ancient region of Caria and fulfilled this idea.
Yunus prepared a two-episode program on the Lycian Trail for TRT. His new field of interest is the Hittite Kingdom. He guides students from all over the world studying archaeology and history of art in Study tours.
Yunus resides in Nevşehir (Cappadocia) with his wife Bilsen and his two children Uluç Ege and Bade and works as an academic at the Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş University department of Archaeology.
Huseyin Caglar Ince was born in 1981 in Koycegiz in Turkey.
He completed his primary and secondary education in Antalya. He graduated from Ege University Bioengineering Department in 2006. His love of nature and travel, which began during his university years, led him to a career other than engineering.
In order to promote and conserve Turkey's cultural and biological diversity he has worked in several projects. He has worked as a writer and editor in many national magazines such as Atlas, Yeşil Atlas, Bugday, Tempo and Magma.
In 2008, with the “Lost Tales” project, he traveled to Kaz Mountains and all the Taurus Mountains and collected the Yörük tales. Turkey's He produced and presented the documentary series "It is not late yet" with a theme of Turkey's wildlife on TRT Documentary Channel. On the other hand, he prepared documentary and promotional films about endemic species of Antalya with his friends. He published his book "Dogadabuan: An Introduction to Nature Observation" in 2017.
He is currently giving environmental education lectures in schools for different age groups. In these activities, students feel the nature by using five sensory organs and recognize living things and their geography.
Huseyin Caglar Ince, who currently lives in Antalya, has undertaken a mission in the name of sustainable tourism with the projects he produces together with the leading companies of the sector in order to raise awareness of nature in tourism. The “nature guide” books that he prepared for different tourism facilities have been published in 4 different languages and printed over 50.000 copies, presented to the tourists coming to our country by the hotels it has partnered with. İnce, who received several awards due to his projects, is also a columnist in tourism magazines, prepares books documentaries and social media contents about biological and cultural values of Turkey and Antalya.
Mehmet Esendal was born in 1986 in Istanbul.
He Graduated from Law School of Yeditepe University in 2010 and specialized with master's degree in 2011 on Law of Environment by University of Strasbourg. After working as attorney at law for some time, he became a tourist guide in 2016.
Since then, bound with responsible tourism principles, he has guided travelers who are interested in the culture and nature of his country.
He is licenced as a nationwide tourist guide in French and English languages.
Elena was born in Germany, in the family of military man and a school teacher. Due her fathers job, Elena travelled with her family around the different cities and countries the school life long, so her decision to study linguistic was expected as well as her entrenched passion for traveling…
After moving to Turkey, she worked in different hotels and travel agencies, learning about all the spectra of tourism. Attending the various classes for photography, joining the local communities for mountain trekking and birdwatching, she started to share the acquired skills during her job. She worked for 12 years as a M.I.C.E specialist, making business, corporate, incentive and leisure projects for international companies. In 2021 she has got a license of professional nationwide tourist guide and since then she is occupied with tour guidance for individual and organized tourists. She says, that her favorite city and place of inspiration is definitely Istanbul, where she currently lives. But, according to her, she cannot live without mountains and hills, ancient cities and hidden valleys, so she very often joins the tours through Anatolia with different types of country’s visitors, such as history lovers, bird and nature lovers, city photographers, hikers, and even gastronomy and wine lovers. Elena attended the international sommelier guilds program and obtained the IWC certificate, which lets her to carry out the wine tastings of local and international wines.
Elena speaks Russian, Turkish, English and German.
ЕЛЕНА ОКСЮЗ
Профессиональный туристический гид -
Сомелье - Фотограф - Бёрдвотчер
О Елене
Елена родилась в Германии, в семье военнослужащего и учительницы. Из-за службы отца, все школьные годы Елена с семьей переезжала в различные города и страны, поэтому ее решение после школы изучать иностранные языки было так же ожидаемо, как и укоренившаяся страсть к путешествиям, приобретенная за эти годы.
После переезда в Турцию, она работала в тур агентствах и гостиничном секторе, изучив все спектры туристического бизнеса этой страны. Помимо туристической деятельности, Елена изучала фотографию, активно участвовала в трекинг-походах локальных организаций, и стала частью комьюнити бердвотчеров Турции. 12 лет Елена работала в сфере организации бизнес-мероприятий специалистом M.I.C.E., создавая и реализовывая проекты для корпоративных клиентов и международных компаний.
В 2021 году Елена получила лицензию профессионально гида от Министерства Культуры и Туризма Турции, и с тех пор она проводит разнообразные туры и экскурсии как для частных клиентов, так и для организованных групп.
По ее словам, ее любимым городом и местом вдохновения является Стамбул, где она проживает в настоящее время. Но при этом она признается, что не может жить без гор, холмов, античных городов и скрытых от постороннего глаза долин, поэтому очень часто она проводит туры по всей Турции, и ее гостями становятся абсолютно различные туристы: почитатели истории, любители дикой природы и орнитологии, люди, интересующиеся уличной фотографией или треккингом в горах Анатолии. Даже поклонники гастрономии и виноделия узнают много нового и интересного на турах Елены. Получив сертификат уровня IWC в международной гильдии сомелье, она проводит туры по винным маршрутам Турции, а также дегустацию вина как местных, так и международных производителей.
Елена свободно владеет русским, турецким, английским и немецким языками.