Meet the team
Local knowledge. Personal connections. With you every step.
Meet our founders
We’re the people who plan your trip, welcome you on the trail and keep everything running along the way. Based in Albania and connected across the Balkans, we combine local knowledge with a personal approach.
Ricardo Fahrig
Co-founder · Product and marketingOriginally from Germany, Ricardo has called Albania home for over a decade. He co-founded Zbulo after falling in love with its mountain landscapes and the warmth of its people. He develops our trips and looks after sales and marketing, drawing on his experience helping shape the region’s hiking destinations to connect travellers with the places and people that make them special.
Endrit Shima
Co-founder · OperationsEndrit has worked in destination development since 2010, helping shape the Peaks of the Balkans and High Scardus Trail. His love of the outdoors and respect for local traditions are at the heart of his work. He oversees our operations, bringing together the guides, hosts and practical arrangements that turn a carefully planned journey into a welcoming experience on the ground.
Your team behind the journey
From your first question to the details of your route, our office team helps bring your adventure together. These are the people arranging your bookings, preparing your travel information and coordinating the support you can turn to along the way.
Arsina
BookingsHelps turn your travel plans into a booked adventure, keeping your reservations organised.
Altin
Driver · Self-guided supportHandles your transfers and helps you get ready for your self-guided trip, with a route briefing, answers to your questions and your travel materials.
Eda
Trip advice and salesHelps you explore the options and choose the journey that suits your interests.
Edi
Driver · Self-guided supportDrives your transfers and helps with the practical start of your journey, from route briefings and travel materials to setting up bicycles for cycling guests.
Mirjeta
Guides and trainingSupports our guides and coordinates their training, helping build the route knowledge, guest care and practical skills behind your time on the trail.
Leonora
OperationsCoordinates the people and arrangements behind your trip, helping everything come together along the way.
Mariglen
FinanceLooks after the numbers and payments that keep our trips and local partnerships running.
Zamir
Driver · Self-guided supportGets you to the start of your adventure and helps you set off prepared, answering questions, handing over trip materials and helping with bicycle setup when needed.
Meet your guides
Our guides bring the mountains to life through the paths they know and the people you meet along the way. With different backgrounds and interests, they share a love of the outdoors, local traditions and helping you feel welcome in Albania and the Balkans.
Mirjeta is our Head of Guides and Training, leading guide development and training.
Opening borders, connecting communities
Our connection to these mountains goes beyond leading trips. Members of our team helped shape two remarkable hiking routes, working alongside local communities and project partners to open up new journeys across the Balkans.
Peaks of the Balkans
Pioneering the way
We helped pioneer the Western Balkans’ first cross-border long-distance hiking trail, opening previously closed mountain borders and connecting communities across Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro. Our team helped shape the concept, scouted and marked Albania’s sections, and trained local guides and hosts. As the route’s first tour operator, we later supported the GIZ and DAV Summit Club partnership to bring the trail to international hikers.
Our work on the trailHigh Scardus Trail
Taking the idea further
Building on Peaks of the Balkans, we helped extend cross-border hiking to Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia. Our team developed High Scardus’ Albanian sections, scouting, mapping and marking remote mountain paths while training local guides and guesthouse hosts. We later partnered with Trail Angels to introduce this ambitious long-distance route, stretching from the Sharr Mountains towards Lake Ohrid, to international hikers.
Our work on the trailDeveloping a hiking or biking destination?Discover our destination-development work at Trails of Albania, where we work with organisations and communities to bring new trails to life.
Talk to our team
Planning journeys for your guests?
We work with tour operators and travel professionals to create guided and self-guided adventures in Albania and the Balkans. Bring your guests; our local team brings the route knowledge, guides and support on the ground.