Hi there! I'm Akmaral, you can call me Aka, as my friends do😉 Im from Kazakhstan, my hometown is Aqtau which is right next to the Caspian sea🌊 but from 2023 I moved to Almaty 🏔️as I'm more into mountains and I'm in love with hiking, tracking, exploring south part of Kazakhstan

Mostly I'm traveling with Workaway volunteering programs. And finding volunteering projects related to my interests: photography and yoga. So far I love this lifestyle where all 3 things that I'm interested in are combined: traveling, yoga and photography! Besides these top interests of mine Im also into active lifestyle: bouldering, hiking, bicycling, meditations, finding different interesting communities, reading, festivals, campings, any outdoor activities. Grabbing my camera and just going for a walk and get lost in new cities is the favorite activity for me😁

2025 started with escaping the winter time in Sri Lanka for three month🏝️and after that in March left to Japan🇯🇵 My dream destination finally! So currently whole april Im staying here as well⛩️

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I've been always interested in local people's lifestyle, getting travel friends around the world. I want to be in a community of travelers, where everyone can help to each other out, give a hints and suggestions on where to go, and what to see. As of from my experience I've been on some amazing, off the beaten places from advice of locals, that I've never even heard and probably would, not be able to find out by myself..
And its more interesting for me to know people a bit (even its for a while), listening their stories, about their view of their own country or city, rather than just go and see the famous touristy spots.

Interests

learning languages, traveling, bicycle, roadtrips, sewing, reading, camping, hiking, photography

• photography
• yoga
• anime
• chess
• bouldering
• hiking
• camping
• volunteering
• jogging
• sewing
• bicycle
• journaling
• active lifestyle
• journalling

Music, Movies, and Books

Indie rock bands🤘🏻Arctic Monkeys, Imagine Dragons, Linking Park; sometimes classic music, also lofi/jazzy music for work/ meditation concentration sessions🧘🏻‍♀️GoT, Black Mirror, Arcane series, anime, manga, non-fiction, fiction books, documentary films!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

My first ever travel abroad was Turkey and it also happened to be one of the best Workaway experience that I tried, got to know so many amazing people, other volunteers and guests in a hostel where we lived and hang out together, preparing and cooking meals, roaming around the city. That's where I first time celebrated my birthday abroad in a small circle of other volunteers, it was wholesome

love roadtrips! as I did traveling through Kyrgyzstan this way and I did road trip with friends through United States as well. I did volunteering in Turkey, Sri-Lanka, Georgia and Hungary. Travelled solo through Eastern Europe, lived in Sri-Lanka three month, visited remote village in mountains of Azerbaijan, passed retreat sessions in Bali.. and many other interesting journey stories and memories that I collect through my photography

Teach, Learn, Share

English, Kazakh, Russian languages

I can teach you English, Russian and Kazakh if you are interested in!
Sharing some tips and advice on how to travel through Kazakhstan & all about out Central Asia culture
I can teach you how to play chess!
I love any types of board games, so if you are also interested, I would love to join the game

What I Can Share with Hosts

I'm quite reserved and calm person, and won't make a noise or bother you if you also like calm environment =) but I also like to be in a good company, having meaningful conversations, so I'm always open for sharing interesting stories and experiences with other travelers.

There are so many amazing things that happened in each country, that Im collecting those memories, and hopefully would love to share and present in my photobook one day!

So if you need any information, recommendations about traveling, I'm always open to share. Also If you ever interested visiting Central Asia, my beautiful homeland Kazakstan feel free to ask any questions! I want many people to see our nature and experience hospitality of local Kazakhs!

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United States, Uzbekistan

Countries I’ve Lived In

Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka