About OunTravela
The philosophy of the forgotten path.
We are Olivia & Victor.
Explorers, authors, photographers, publishers and adventurers at heart.
Over the years, our passion for adventure has led us to create original travel guides sold in over 70 countries worldwide. Our mission is to spread a travel philosophy based on adventure, freedom, improvisation and exploration. Our guides inspire travellers to explore the world’s forgotten paths, encountering wilderness and civilization.
Discover our Explore Ladakh, Explore Kyrgyzstan and Explore Georgia guides.
But it wasn’t always like that…
A few years ago, we were leading a sedentary, well-ordered life, with our professional careers all mapped out. Victor as an engineer and Olivia as a vet, secure jobs and the promise of “social success”.
But already, our aspirations were no longer in line with our daily lives, and each of us, without knowing each other, was setting off on adventures, in search of a new meaning to our lives.
In 2017, after sharing a year as roommates in a house in the south of France, we fell head over heels in love. Our two passions for travel became one. Barely a month after making our relationship official, we embarked on the journey that will change our lives. We set off to Kyrgyzstan with a single goal in mind: to change our lives, discover the unknown and pass on our passion to other travelers. This is the beginning of the Ountravela story.
Creating OunTravela Publishing
In 2019, we decided to create our own publishing house OunTravela to bring together adventure-seeking travelers around a guide that’s both fun and informative.
Of all the guides that existed at the time, we couldn’t find the one that met our needs. Where are the maps? field data? beautiful photographs? What lies behind these mountains, valleys and little-known regions? How can we enable travelers to set off on adventures off the beaten track, with a knowledge of the terrain, landscapes and culture, without sending them a list of hotels, restaurants and tourist sites?
The idea quickly germinated in our minds, and we embarked on this crazy project as self-taught and self-published authors.
Why self-publishing?
We are at once the explorers, photographers, cartographers, authors and publishers of our guidebooks… all tasks that demand a titanic amount of work, but which offer us great freedom: the freedom to choose our destinations, the format of our books and their content. Self-publishing also gives us theindependence we were looking for as entrepreneurs. It enables us to create a direct link with our readers, without intermediaries, and thus to adapt quickly to their needs and the realities on the ground.
To create a travel guide from A to Z, it takes about a year of work, from exploration to publication.
By the way, what does OunTravela mean?
Are you familiar with the film Avatar (the great blue creatures who live in harmony with nature and whom humans want to destroy…)? When he was younger, Victor was a big fan of this film and, get this, he spoke their language, Navi’. OunTravela is a word derived from this dialect and means “to go in the opposite direction to the one intended”.. They tell me to go there? Well, I’m going to take the opposite route.