Camino Women in Australia and Khiri Travel’s inaugural 4-day community-based hill trekking route in Laos – based on the principle of responsible tourism – will include six women from Australia.
The trek commences on 16 February and is part of a 12-day northern Laos journey which includes a slow boat ride on the Mekong River, a train ride, visits to Buddhist caves and an elephant park, walks in paddy fields, meetings with various ethnic group villages, and experiencing the UNESCO world heritage township of Luang Prabang.
However, it is the inclusion, support, and training for villages in three remote mountain hamlets on the new Soum-son (community) Trail that the trip organisers believe is a positive example of responsible travel.
In preparation to receive the women hikers, 26 women and men from the three remote villages had three days of training in Luan Prabang, Laos, in 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, and training was carried out by four community tourism experts from the Lao government.
The aim is for community tourism to enhance the quality of life for the villagers.
“Our approach is to treat tourism as a supplementary source of income for the villagers who are rice farmers,” Khiri Travel Laos country manager, Julie Beaufrère, said. “We don’t want over-dependency on tourism. And the cultural learning process is also very much both ways between villagers and the women hikers.”
After the inaugural trip, 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 from November 2025 to February 2026.
Each trip will have the same local guide from the villages and Khiri Travel’s own 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, schoolbooks, and preserved foods to the three villages on the remote hiking trail.
Camino Women’s lead trip designer, Lisa O’Donnell, who surveyed the trail with Julie Beaufrère last year, is glad to see the preparation, training, and hard work paying off.
“We’re very positive with our partnership with the wonderful villagers and the proactive support from the Lao authorities and Khiri Travel,” O’Donnell said. “I believe our Camino Women hikers are really going to 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,” Khiri Travel founder, Willem Niemeijer, said. “We aim to develop more responsible and regenerative travel experiences with Leatherback Travel across Southeast Asia in the months ahead.”
