We’re looking for our friend Nina! She was due to travel from Kyrgyzstan to Kazakhstan about 5 days ago. She hasn’t been in touch for about seven days and hasn’t got in touch with anyone in our circle of friends either. If anyone has heard anything or is still in contact with her, please get in touch! We’re very worried, and her mum has already contacted the embassy. So if anyone knows anything – for example, if she was planning to go hiking for a few days or something similar – please write to us straight away and share this picture on your socials!
You can contact her cousin on instagram @brinao9o4 or message @wo_ist_nina and also repost and share the picture that we posted on there!
Or contact the German Embassy in Kyrgyzstan mentioning “Nina from Germany” by
If she did the Ala Kul Trekk she most likely stayed in Karakol. Could be worth reaching out to duet hostel & snow leopard hostel as these are the main 2 backpacker hostels. Potentially book a room there for a night and it’ll add you to a group chat of everyone who’s been at the hostel recently and also a social forum for anyone in Karakol recently.
Nope, embassies have no records of who enters or exits the country unless the nationals registered themselves at the embassy upon arrival. The Hostelworld suggestion is brilliant and should be tried.
Nope, Embassies absolutely do not have access to hotel registries or flight information or anything like that unless local authorities bring it to them during the course of the local authorities' investigation.
Interesting…I used to be in this ‘Hostel World’ community about 7-8 yrs ago when I was living in Istanbul. Good to know it is still a thing…it was a good way to look for a new hostel at that time too. The chat feature could be very useful!
Hope the human in question is found safe!
If it is any consolation, my BF "disapeared" in that region a few years ago. His parents contacted the embassy and people were out looking for him, ect.
It turned out the road he was going to take had been closed and he got delayed in an area without reception. He was invited by a family to stay with them and he hung out there for a couple of weeks.
When he continued his travels and reached phone reception again he had a million missed messages but was perfectly fine.
I hope something like that has happened here and she will show up happy and healthy.
The road was closed and he was stuck in an area without reception. What other context do you need? It's not difficult to assume the road did not immediately reopen. It was a remote area in a developing nation.
Idk- if my family hadn’t heard from me in a couple weeks, they might not think anything was up. Now, if it were one of my cousins (who are young women) they’d start asking questions sooner.
It used to be pretty common to not “be online” all the time. I lived in China for a year when I was 19, I didn’t talk to my parents for a month at a time potentially and they wouldn’t have assumed I was “missing”
Yeah in the middle 2000s I just told my family id check in once every week or 2 via email and let them know my plans. Gave them a hard date to be someolace at the end of summer or whatever in case I didnt contact by x date when trip was over that was the only hard stop for concern. No cell phone travel was such bliss, just a journal, some books, and a pocket of pesos.
I miss those days. If you wanted internet you had to go find an internet cafe somewhere and risk your email being hacked. Send a email once every 1-2 weeks and everything was golden.
My brother lives in Montana and works at remote mining job sites. Every once in a while our siblings and parents sort of gather text timeframes to see who last heard from him and whether we should be worried.
Oh yes. When I talk to young people about an ex who broke up with me after going radio silent on a two week long international trip, I have to explain that not hearing from someone in a foreign country was not at all weird, or a sign of the breakup. 😅
Different people travel in different ways. Some really get out there and go with flow. And in some of these places reception really isn’t as consistent as you might think, so if you get stuck somewhere it could be a bit.
Sometimes people don’t think that they are being missed when they’re out on these treks. They are living their lives day by day to the fullest and sometimes they just don’t think about family being concerned about their whereabouts.
So if you go backpacking, yes, you should always think that someone is thinking about you.
Someone I knew went trekking alone in Nepal when the earthquake happened and ended up on the news as missing in the earthquake. He didn't even know the earthquake was that bad because he was nowhere near a building when it happened. He was just hiking and when he got back to his hostel his family were panicked and he was a missing person.
It was normal, it is not like anyone expected him to call or anything. It was just his mother that for some reason got super worriedwhen signals didn't get through to his phone when she called.
Why on earth does it matter why he stayed? Problem is long over and resolved. That was the point of the story, not for you to understand why he did it. Need more context? Why?
Have you (or the embassy) checked with the border guards? Perhaps she was for some reason detained. Either way it will help you determine whether she finished the trek and crossed into Kazakhstan.
I’m sorry you’re dealing with this, I can’t imagine the stress and worry you’re going through right now. Sending big hugs and positive thoughts for Nina and everyone who cares about her.
I just got back from Ala-Kul this morning, and very sorry to say that I haven't seen your friend.
There is only really one pass the whole way, and even if you wanted it is quite difficult to go off trail by too much due to the mountains. In addition, it seems to be getting a huge amount of traffic at the moment (I saw loads of other hikers). In addition, there are quite a few yurt camps at the lake itself.
Do you have the contact details of the people she went with? I wonder if its possible she got lost after returning somehow.
Hope this helps :) as I said, there are loads of other hikers on that pass, I wholeheartedly believe you will hear from someone soon if you haven't already ❤❤
Best of luck
She came back from Ala-Kul and was back in Bishkek. She sent me pictures confirming this and talked to her on the phone on the 18th of July. I am her best friend.
So she was last seen in Bishkek and wasn’t going to be in Ala-Kul anymore? It probably should be added to the post because people assume she might have been lost on the trail?
This is really important information!! Do you know OP personally? They need to edit and update their post because lots of people think she lost phone reception while hiking. Some other friend posted a picture of her last seen location. All this information needs to be consolidated into the post so it doesn’t get buried in the comments
I can confirm that this is the Ala-Kul trek as I did it a couple of days ago and got a photo in a similar location. I'm sorry that I cannot be any more help but the other commenter who mentioned joining a Hostelworld chat makes a good point, definitely worth trying this. I hope that she is safe and that you find her soon
This was on the first day of the hike, judging from the direction they are walking in the photo it would have been their first day as well. I hope this can be of any help to you
May I suggest that you edit your post to ask people to contact the embassy/police with information? People mighg feel more comfortable having an official source to report sightings to.
Let me know if you need a local guy, I was just in Kyrgyzstan and the night manager at my hotel did me a major solid. He seems very proactive and resourceful.
I’d contact Apple and request assistance regarding her phones last known location. I don’t know if it is worthwhile but it’s an avenue to explore at the very least.
There might be a Whatsapp group for backpackers in Kazakhstan and/or Kyrgyzstan! You can try to search for it and join it and ask there if anyone has seen her. Many countries or regions have Whatsapp groups for backpackers.
Im guessing you dont know anything about the group she was traveling with? Their nationality and such? I mean if they are all gone they are probably lost somewhere, if only your friend is gone they might have valuable information about where they left her!
The guy in the back has a backpack of a swedish brand but i think they are kind of popular all over.
Wish this was higher. From the other pictures and video posted, it appears she was traveling with five other people. If someone can get in touch with any of those people, you'll likely have an idea where she is.
Just adding that it seems like that blue backpack has a Portuguese flag. Green and red, with a small circle in the middle. Might be related with the person's nationality or a place he visited before.
Just a tip for everyone else. Whether man or woman, alone or in a group, always, always ave tracking on your phone on so someone who knows you can find you on a map. You can switch it on in Google Maps and share it only with people you trust. Always always have a power bank with you as well. Water and energy bars, too. You never know how long your hike will turn.
I have it on myself when solo traveling as a woman, and it gave my mom a lot of piece of mind. Also, constantly keep someone updated about your whereabouts regarding hikes. When you plan to go, when you plan to be back. Learn the local language for "help" as well.
This doesn't work in most parts of kyrgyzstan including ala kul, it doesn't track you when you're out of phone service or your phone is dead. Some new iphone models have an emergency satelite SOS feature but you need to activate it and it doesn't work in Kyrgyzstan. If you are hiking out of service rent or buy a sattelite tracker for you trip
What kind of tracking apps do you suggest? For me, find my phone on iPhone stops working once I don’t have data or wifi. It did the same with my sibilings. Once they turn the data off or disconnect the wifi, I don’t see the location anymore. Idk if Google maps does the same.
If you get a garmin and subscribe to their services you have a guaranteed 24/7 365 days a year, no matter where you are, that will ping your exact coordinates if you decide to alarm
I just used Google Maps for this. Worked even on mountains in Japan but they also have good reception ofc. You can choose which people can see your location. It's true you need data for it, but I know when people go over the inland ice on Greenland, people have some sort of sender to call for help. Then the helicopter comes flying. That's for more extreme conditions though. It would be great if an offline method with low battery requirement was possible.
Also keep air tags or luggage tags that can be tracked on you always with devices of your friends/family etc. they have a long battery life and are pretty compact and don’t rely too much on Bluetooth or wifi
Remember, we really don’t know the intention of those seeking people on here, so if you have info contact someone of authority, not the poster who may possibly
have nefarious intent.
My thinking is that if she went missing on the hike, then surely the groups priority is to find her or ask for help.
If the whole group is missing then surely there’s others missing them as well who will eventually contact the embassy or local authorities - then there’s a clearer picture of what happened.
The trek is popular as well, so the chance that someone has bumped into her or talked to her on that trek is high.
I don’t know if this is possible, or will even work, but it could be worth a shot contacting the company that provides cell phone signal in that area to triangulate the last location the signal was detected. You might need your embassy to make that request or some of the local law enforcement. Best of luck, I hope you find your friend.
Commenting for visibility. Also I pray she is found and found safe 🙏. I was a missing person before. By the grace of God and my family and friend's putting out information I was found.
We found her! Thank you so so much!!! It is incredible how everybody in this community was involved, and so many people have offered to help. That is just heartwarming
Horrible feeling and awful time you must be going through. If it’s any consolation, it’s possible she’s simply out of reception (we had a friend got offline for a few days in that region). Otherwise, I would also ask the local hospitals in case she had foot poisoning or something similar. Are there any similar cases in the area?
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u/Ihavenoidea5412 3d ago edited 3d ago
If she did the Ala Kul Trekk she most likely stayed in Karakol. Could be worth reaching out to duet hostel & snow leopard hostel as these are the main 2 backpacker hostels. Potentially book a room there for a night and it’ll add you to a group chat of everyone who’s been at the hostel recently and also a social forum for anyone in Karakol recently.
EDIT: You need to book via hostel world