18/09/2026
BEHIND THE JOURNEY
Meet Altay Özcan
For Altay, it started with a night under the stars.
While studying American Culture and Literature in Ankara, a university mountaineering club introduced him to a world far beyond the classroom—mountains, remote landscapes, and the possibility of discovering them under his own power.
Curiosity soon became a way of life.
He moved to Turkey’s Mediterranean coast and spent years guiding and exploring by sea kayak, mountain bike and on foot—camping under the stars, navigating coastlines, and learning that moving slowly through a landscape changes the way you understand it.
That knowledge eventually led to something much bigger.
Together with a friend with deep archaeological knowledge of the Aegean, Altay helped create the Carian Trail—an 850 km long-distance hiking route through the ancient landscapes of southwestern Turkey.
The trail would shape more than his career.
It was also the connection that brought Altay and Rikki together.
Years of exploring, guiding and working side by side followed, until their shared approach to adventure eventually became Roots Adventure Travel.
For Altay, whether it’s hiking, biking or sea kayaking, travelling under your own power does something different to time.
You move slower.
You notice more.
And somewhere along the way, the map becomes more than a route—it becomes your own way of understanding a place.
And in many ways, that idea is still at the heart of Roots.
