OUR TEAM
Designing Experiences with Heart and Skill
Our team is passionate about creating memorable experiences for your journey to Azerbaijan. Feride Buyuran personally envisions, drafts, and curates each itinerary, designing experiences that will touch hearts. She works closely with her local friends and guides, who provide advice and insights as needed. Behind the scenes, a dedicated team—guides, drivers, hosts, artisans, and passionate locals—ensures that every moment is unforgettable. Even the kind strangers we meet along the way help bring our vision to life. Together, we foster authentic connections between people and cultures at every step of the journey.
Feride Buyuran, Chief Experience Designer, Tour Leader
Native of Azerbaijan and California resident, Feride Buyuran is on a mission to bring people together and connect cultures through compassionate communication and shared food. To serve this mission, in 2017 she founded Feride Buyuran Tours to create full-immersion journeys to her birthplace. Through these experiences, Feride hopes to give travelers the gift of deeper connection while savoring the best the region has to offer. She believes in mindful travel, where the true value of a journey lies in fully experiencing each moment and cherishing the memories it creates.
When she is in Azerbaijan, Feride explores both familiar and remote corners of her homeland, seeking experiences to include in her next tours. She attributes her love for cultural research to her very first workplace, Azerbaijan International Magazine, where she worked as an editorial assistant at the turn of the 20th century. Feride’s passion for Azerbaijani cuisine inspired her award-winning debut book, Pomegranates and Saffron: A Culinary Journey to Azerbaijan, which has earned five prestigious awards, including Gourmand Best in the World Cookbook Award.
Feride has a Master’s degree in English Philology from the State University of Languages in Azerbaijan and a Master’s of Business Administration from California State University, Long Beach. She is fluent in English, Azerbaijani, Russian, and Turkish languages and has a working knowledge of Spanish. In her spare time, Feride enjoys singing and playing guitar.
Gani Nasirov, Lead Tour Guide
Baku’s rich history and architecture come alive with Gani, who has been instrumental in leading our Old City and downtown tours since 2018. His expertise and energy make him an invaluable asset to our team.
Gani was born in Azerbaijan’s Imishli region but grew up in Baku. He studied international relations at Baku’s Qafqaz (Caucasus) University and European Union-Russian relations at the University of Tartu in Estonia. He credits his alma maters for his knowledge of the geography, society, and politics of Azerbaijan and the Caucasus region.
Gani is a full-fledged travel blogger and his work has appeared in various local and international publications, including Visions of Azerbaijan Magazine and CNN Travel. Gani speaks Azerbaijani and English and is in the process of learning Russian and French. His interests include researching local stories such as urban legends and myths, food, culture, and architecture. Gani is also a soccer player with Baku's Bayil Rovers in Amateur League.During two years as an assistant to general manager and translator at Gedebey Mine in western Azerbaijan, Gani became fascinated by the hidden and overt beauty and the rich culture of the region. This sparked his enthusiasm to explore the rest of the country and, fueled by a passion for travel, Gani became a professional tour guide in 2016.
