OHALIK
Travel that gives back, made visible
Where Your Money Goes
Most of what you pay stays with the people who make your journey real. Here is how.
Most tour companies say their travel gives back. Few of them will show you the arithmetic. We would rather show you, because the difference between a trip that supports a place and a trip that merely passes through it is decided by where the money lands.
On a typical 14-day Ohalik trip, roughly 70 per cent of what you pay stays in the hands of local families, guides, and artisans. The remaining 30 per cent covers fuel, taxes, internal flights, and operations.
The proportions shift a little from trip to trip — a trek puts more into village porters and homestays, a city journey more into family hotels and workshops — but the shape does not change. The largest share of your money goes to people you will meet, eat with, and know by name.
The family-run guesthouse, not the international chain
In Samarkand you stay at Amira Boutique Hotel, the property our own family owns and runs. In Bukhara, a converted merchant's house in the old city kept by the family that has held it for generations. In the mountains, village homestays where the payment goes directly to the household that bakes your bread and lays your bedding. No franchise fee leaves the country on your accommodation.
The local craftsman, not the airport souvenir shop
Every workshop visit on an Ohalik itinerary is a paid session. The ceramic master in Gijduvon, the silk weaver in Margilan, the suzani embroiderer in Nurota, the coppersmith in Bukhara — each is paid properly for their time, whether or not anyone buys a piece. Portrait sitters on our photography journeys are paid too, with releases signed in their own language.
The village driver, not the corporate transport company
Our drivers are named in your trip brief before you arrive. They are professionals we have worked with for years, paid directly, driving vehicles we inspect ourselves. On treks, the porters are sons of the village and the cooks are mothers and aunts — hired from the valleys you walk through, at proper rates.
What the rest covers
Fuel and road taxes. Internal flights and high-speed trains. Permits and entrance fees. Insurance and the satellite phone we carry on every remote departure. The small office in Samarkand that answers your messages within two working days. We do not pad, and we do not hide margins inside vague line items. Our quote includes everything we list, and we list everything.
An honest note on the numbers
These are proportions, not promises fixed to the decimal point. Seasons, group sizes, and routes move them. If you want the breakdown for your own trip, ask, and we will show you line by line where your payment goes. No other answer would be worthy of the people this page is about.
Come With Us
Travel that stays where you went
See the journeys we run, or write to us and ask exactly where your money would go.