Discovering Horizons
I got a phone call on Friday afternoon. I was surprised because my mobile told me before I picked up that it was a call from Marat, who lives in the UK, and I didn’t know he was due back here in Kyrgyzstan.
He is the Director of Silk Road Media, the publisher of the Discovery Magazines: Discovery Central Asia, Discovery Kyrgyzstan, Discovery Uzbekistan, Discovery Kazakhstan, Discovery Tajikistan, Discovery Issyk Kul, as well as the magazine Open Central Asia … and a host of other projects.
We had met only a few weeks ago when he had told me about his latest project: Discovery Gorizonty – Discovery Horizons. This time he was calling to ask if I was in my office, because he wanted to bring me copies of his new “baby”.
This is not only a new venture, it also represents a digression from Silk Road Media’s usual portfolio. The Discovery series are travel magazines which concentrate on Central Asia.
The Travel Guides to Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan concentrate on each country independently and editions are published in different languages. The Discovery Kyrgyzstan Travel Guide, for example, is available in English, German, Japanese, Russian and French.
The flagship publication, however, is Discovery Central Asia, which has articles written in English about various topics related to destinations throughout the region. There have been 32 editions since the first one appeared in the summer of 2002. They used to be general magazines in that that each edition contained a variety articles on different topics about each country. Three years ago, however, they stared issuing thematic issues. All of the articles in an edition were related in that they illustrated a different aspect of a common theme. In the first of these thematic issues the articles were all about the Soviet Heritage of Central Asia. That was followed by Museums in Central Asia; Spiritual Journeys through Central Asia and Sacred Places; Hospitality and Cuisine; the different People’s of Central Asia and their Traditions; The Music of Central Asia and Clothes and Fashion in Central Asia. The latest issue was about the Wildlife of Central Asia and the next issue will be about the Crafts of Central Asia.
The Open Central Asia magazine was a different concept. It wasn’t specifically a travel magazine but aimed to provide a bridge combining and highlighting the links between Central Asia and Europe, in particular the UK.
Discovery Horizons returns to the topic of travel, but is different in that it is in Russian and as well as containing articles about Central Asia, it covers destination from all over the world: Russia (Saint Petersburg), Nepal, Turkey (Istanbul), The Dominican Republic, Thailand, Hong Kong, Italy, the Czech Republic (Prague) as well as articles on Singaporean Cuisine, Heath Resorts, travel news and advice. Central Asia isn’t forgotten, however, as there are articles on Kyrgyzstan, (about Mountain Biking and Issyk Kul), Tajikistan, (Dushanbe) and Uzbekistan (Samarkand).
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You can find out more about the Silk Road Media and see examples of the magazines on their website: http://www.silkpress.com/.
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Bishkek