Your guide, Timothy Merkel, and how he got here
My name is Timothy Merkel. I grew up in Baltimore in the United States, and I came to Georgia for the first time in 2009, 17 years ago, invited by some Georgian friends from my university. Well, to make a long story short, that short visit made me really enthralled with this country, and I moved here for my first long stay in 2011, teaching English in some rural villages. This was when I learned the Georgian language and began to explore the country’s incredible diversity almost obsessively. After teaching for two years, I left to travel and live in some other countries, but I kept coming back to visit and thinking about living here again. Finally, I moved back permanently in 2019 and have been here ever since – making music, writing poetry, making films, guiding, exploring, hiking, documenting rivers, and doing many other things.
I’ve never been the kind of person who was satisfied with just doing one thing. Guiding is just one of the ways I spend my time, while involving myself in all kinds of projects, ideas, plans, and ventures. I believe that this kind of disposition keeps life full and interesting. But guiding is a special pleasure; I enjoy it because it brings me into contact with interesting people and allows me to show and share with them the magic of Georgia as I’ve lived it over so many years. I love creating unique experiences for my guests which fit the diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and enthusiasms that they bring – everyone’s Georgia is a bit different, and it’s always an adventure to discover what that will be.
I would consider myself to be an atypical, unusual tour guide. I don’t find my job interesting if I have to go around to the same crowded touristic places, repeating the same script every day. I’m a person with a sense of adventure and I love clients who share that sense of adventure, who want a tour which is a bit (or more than a bit) out of the ordinary. I treat every client and group to their own unique experience, based on careful consideration of their specific interests and my expert knowledge of the many different sides of Georgia. Furthermore, I am adamant about showing people the real side of Georgia; I much prefer to skip the tourist traps and show people the kinds of authentic places and experiences that filled me with such a sense of wonder when I first arrived here.
If you just want a typical tour to some of the main destinations of Georgia, there’s nothing wrong with that – I can do that too. But I do my best work when I take you to places which the guidebook doesn’t know about – for example, showcasing the wonders of Lechkhumi while also visiting Gelati and Kutaisi, or exploring the phenomenal historical sites of Kartli while on an excursion to Mtskheta. If you’re a person who loves the unusual, the unknown, and the adventurous, you’ve come to the right place. Feel free to contact me anytime to plan your travels and adventures in Georgia.
All photos on this page by Sopho Pepanashvili.
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Resting with a trail dog while doing some light winter trekking in Birtvisi.
Gathering yarrows in Tambovka, Javakheti.
On a walk with friends in Tedzami Valley, Kartli.
Staring out at the scenery at the abandoned cave monastery of Kolagiri while on a film shoot.
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