Equity Global Treks
Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Peru, Chile, Tanzania Est. 2021
- Mountains
- Rural
- Nature
- Culture
- Hiking
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Treks in Nepal and beyond that hand tourism back to communities
Equity Global Treks is the guided arm of Brown Gal Trekker, founded by Marinel de Jesus, a former civil rights lawyer in Washington who left the law in 2017 for life as a mountain nomad. She had already run an adventure company across Peru, Nepal, Tanzania and Mongolia, and saw how little of the money reached the porters and villages doing the work. So the treks were rebuilt around three ideas: workforce equity, community led itineraries and women in leadership.
Trips run in Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Peru, Chile and Tanzania. Groups are small, often led by local women guides, and nights are spent in teahouses, homestays and nomad camps rather than smart lodges. Expect long walking days, big passes and frank conversation about who benefits from tourism. Marinel also founded The Porter Voice Collective, a non-profit for porters' rights, and the initiative has won social entrepreneurship and storytelling awards.
Sustainability
How this escape gives back
Climate & conservation
- Low impact travel - Treks move on foot in small groups, using existing trails and village lodging.
Community & culture
- Fair pay and conditions - Porters and crew are paid and equipped to standards local labour laws fail to enforce.
- Community owned - Itineraries are designed with communities so they decide how tourism works on their land.
- Supports women - Women are hired and trained as trail leaders in an industry that rarely employs them.
- Preservation of cultural heritage - Nomadic and indigenous hosts tell their own stories, filmed in an award winning short.
Commercial
- Reinvests back into the community and or environment - A mission led social enterprise, twice a winner of social entrepreneurship in tourism awards.
Details
- PRICE BRACKET
- ££
- Activities
- Hiking · Cultural visit · Photography
- Setting
- Mountains · Rural
Best time to visit
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
Himalayan treks run March to May and September to November. Mongolia and the Andes are best May to September.
Kids
Adults and older teenagers, given the walking distances and altitude.
Accessibility
Multi day trekking at altitude on rough trails, so a good level of fitness is needed.
Where they operate
Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Peru, Chile, Tanzania
Everest and Annapurna, Karakoram, Paro valley, Altai and Ulaanbaatar, Pamirs, Cusco and Sacred Valley, Patagonia, Kilimanjaro
Equity Global Treks, Brown Gal Trekker
Guide price · £ <£100 · ££ £100–300 · £££ £300–800 · ££££ £800+ pp / night
