LUANG PRABANG Laos, 6 February 2025: Khiri Travel (Laos) and Camino Women Australia are establishing a new community-based hill trekking route in remote northern Laos targeting female hikers.
The inaugural four-day trek will commence on 16 February, with six women from Australia joining the trip. Organised by Camino Women (Australia) and Khiri Travel (Laos), the mountain hike is part of a 12-day northern Laos journey that includes a slow boat trip on the Mekong River, a train ride, visits to Buddhist caves and an elephant park, walks in paddy fields, meetings with various ethnic group villagers, and experiencing the UNESCO world heritage township of Luang Prabang.
However, the trip organisers believe the inclusion, support and training for villagers in three remote mountain hamlets on the new Soum-son (community) Trail are a positive example of responsible travel.
Preparing to receive the women hikers in mid-February, 26 women and men from the three remote villages embarked on three days of training in Luang Prabang in Laos last December. The villagers learned about community-based tourism, safety standards, housekeeping service, waste management, food preparation, and customer service. There were hands-on practical sessions. Four community tourism experts from the Lao government carried out the training.
Two-way learning process
“Our approach is to treat tourism as a supplementary source of income for the villagers who are rice farmers,” said Khiri Travel Laos country manager Julie Beaufrère. “We don’t want over-dependency on tourism. And the cultural learning process is also very much between villagers and the women hikers.”
After the inaugural trip in February, Camino Women and Khiri Travel aim to bring five hiking groups to the Soum-son Trail in 2025, followed by two per month in the next high season, November 2025 to February 2026.
Each trip will have the same local guide from the villages and Khiri Travel’s highly experienced Laotian community guide.
Camino Women and Khiri Travel’s charitable arm, Khiri Reach, paid for the training in December. After consulting with the villagers about what else they may need, Khiri Reach and Camino donated two laptop computers, school books and preserved food to the villages on the remote hiking trail.
Camino Women’s lead trip designer, Lisa O’Donnell, surveyed the trail with Beaufrère last year and is glad to see the preparation, training, and hard work paying off.
“We’re very positive about our partnership with the wonderful villagers and the proactive support from the Lao authorities and Khiri Travel. I believe our Camino women hikers will enjoy their immersion in Laotian village life for four days.”
Australian tour operator Leatherback Travel operates specialist travel units such as Camino Women, Patch Adventures, Magnificent Rail and Fencox Travel. Khiri Travel has handled various tours for these brands in Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia since 2023.
“The Soum-son Trail and the full 10-day greater Laos experience is a terrific example of close cooperation between Leatherback Travel and Khiri,” said Khiri Travel founder Willem Niemeijer. “We aim to develop more responsible and regenerative travel experiences with Leatherback Travel across Southeast Asia in the months ahead.”
