Meet the Trail-Blazing Women Brewing Change in the High Himalaya
Deep in the Markha Valley of Ladakh, northern India, the trail rises and falls beneath vast Himalayan skies. Trekkers follow ancient trading paths between villages of mud-brick houses and fluttering prayer flags, stopping for tea before pressing on towards the next high pass.
But in the small and remote high-altitude village of Hankar, that pause has become something much more meaningful. Here, women’s empowerment in Ladakh is not a slogan. It is poured into enamel cups and stitched into felt by hand.
An Eco Café at High Altitude
Hankar lies high in the Markha Valley at 4,000m (13,123ft), on a popular summer trekking route. For years, walkers passed through with little opportunity for local women to earn directly from tourism. That began to change when the local government built a small structure for the village women’s group.
With support from the Exodus Adventure Travels Foundation, the building was painted and decorated, and the Hankar Women’s Eco Café was born.
Today, it is solely run by 12 local women. During the trekking season, they serve drinks and simple food, alongside fresh organic coffee sourced from South India – very welcome refreshments for hikers who have trekked over high passes and along dusty valley trails to reach Hankar.
The café also provides filtered water so trekkers can refill their bottles, a valuable step in reducing plastic waste in this fragile mountain environment. That commitment to refill rather than replace is the reason it is known as the Eco Café.
Since 2014, Exodus has supported the café by providing funding for practical training, menu production, coffee supplies, and water filters. The model is collective. The income is shared. Decisions are made together. For many of the women, it is the first time they have earned and managed money as a group.
Travellers on our Ladakh adventures, including treks through the Markha Valley and winter journeys in search of snow leopards, pass through villages like Hankar. It’s not only a chance for the visitors to meet the community, but a simple stop for tea becomes a small but meaningful connection between visitor and community – and a treasured memory for many.
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Looking to the Future
In 2025, the original café building was pulled down by the government to make way for a new room. Rather than close, the women carried on serving their refreshments under a parachute tent.
Coffee was still brewed. Water still filtered. Income still earned.
The hope is that a new permanent structure will be completed in 2026, allowing the café to be decorated and fully re-established. The past year proved that the strength of the project lies not in bricks and mortar but in the determination of the women who run it.
From Coffee Cups to Snow Leopards
When the subzero temperatures of winter close the trekking trails, the women turn to another source of income: painstakingly crafted, beautiful handmade pieces of felt art.
With funding from the Exodus Adventure Travels Foundation, the women have received training in both flat felting and needle felting. Specialist felting needles, not available in India, are purchased in the UK and transported to Ladakh twice a year before being distributed across several women’s groups in the region.
The women create small felted animals and key rings, with snow leopards proving unsurprisingly popular. During winter departures to Ladakh, when you can join our expert-led trips to search for this elusive cat and attend monastic festivals, these handcrafted pieces offer a tangible link between wildlife tourism and local livelihoods. Plus, they make a lovely souvenir to take home.
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Search for Snow Leopards with Valerie Parkinson
Search for the elusive Snow Leopard with trekking guide Valerie Parkinson
Confidence That Goes Beyond Certificates
These sources of income are especially valuable as many women in remote Himalayan communities have had limited access to formal education. For some, a lack of academic qualifications has long been equated with a lack of opportunity.
Projects like the Hankar Women’s Eco Café challenge that assumption.
Valerie Parkinson, one of our Himalayan trekking guides and a long-time supporter of community initiatives in Ladakh, explains:
“Working together, they can make decisions and run the café to earn money for their women’s group. Making their own decisions and money allows the women to have confidence in themselves and their abilities.
“Many women in remote communities have not had much education and feel disempowered and disadvantaged just because they do not have a school leaving certificate. Showing women that you do not need to have academic qualifications to earn money is a revelation to many of them.”
She adds: “Things such as equality in earnings that globally women strive for is still way behind in remote Himalayan communities, but this is a start, giving them the confidence to work and earn their own money for the first time in their lives.”
Read more about guide Valerie and her work in the Himalaya here.
The café and felting initiatives provide income, yes. But they also offer shared leadership and collective decision-making power. They create space for women to contribute financially while balancing homestay responsibilities and farming duties during the busy summer months. They provide confidence and an increased sense of worth.
For travellers walking through the Markha Valley or scanning snowy ridgelines for the flick of a snow leopard’s tail, these projects may appear quietly in the background. In reality, they are central to how tourism can support women’s empowerment in Ladakh.
Travel That Connects
Every refill of filtered water. Every cup of coffee served at altitude. Every felted snow leopard sold in winter.
These are small exchanges, but they build something lasting.
This International Women’s Day, as we celebrate progress around the world, the women of Hankar remind us that empowerment can begin in the most remote corners of the globe. It just needs a little effort and a lot of shared heart.
If you are planning a journey to Ladakh, whether trekking through the Markha Valley in summer or joining a winter search for snow leopards with Valerie, your visit helps sustain initiatives like the Hankar Women’s Eco Café.
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