Mapping IT OUT

BORN AS PASSION PROJECTS, THESE COMPANIES ADDRESS THE NEED FOR SAFE AND TRUSTED PARTNERS FOR WOMEN TRAVELLERS

WHEN SHE FIRST RETURNED FROM HER many expeditions in the mountains in Ladakh, Thinlas Chorol was mistaken for a foreigner in her neighbourhood villages. This was in the early 2000s, when the concept of a woman entrepreneur, let alone a woman guide, was unheard of in Ladakh. Chorol founded the Ladakhi Women's Travel Company in 2009, hoping to not only open the space for women guides and entrepreneurs but also make it safe for female explorers.

In India, travel companies are still traversing the murky waters of mistrust. The concept of trust becomes doubly relevant while targeting the Indian woman traveller clientele, safety being the key factor. "We sensed a lack of a safe place or a player that women could trust," says Garima Pande, co-founder of Wandering Jane, a travel agency that organises women-only trips.

ON THE TRAIL OF THE WOMAN TRAVELLER

Sumitra Senapaty, co-founder of Women on Wanderlust (WoW), a travel club exclusively for women, recalls seeing women from foreign countries moving around freely for adventure and leisure when she first started travelling in 2004–2005. “I realised that Indian women lack such opportunities and do not have the right platform that facilitates such leisure,” she says.

Senapaty started out as a freelance writer and solo traveller. She launched WoW as a “cosmopolitan club” that aims to fill the confidence gap among women travellers.

Pande echoes a similar sentiment. “Right before we launched Wandering Jane in 2017, I was on a trip in Kerala. When I was travelling,