Salkantay Horizons — My Peru Destinations Group Last updated: 2025
Salkantay Horizons, operated by My Peru Destinations Group and based in Cusco, Peru, is committed to protecting the personal data of everyone who interacts with our services. This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and what rights you have in relation to it.
By submitting a booking request, contacting us through any channel, or using our website, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.
The data controller responsible for your personal information is My Peru Destinations Group, operating under the Salkantay Horizons brand, based in Cusco, Peru. For any questions or requests relating to your personal data, contact us at info@salkantay-trail.com or via WhatsApp at +51 921 333 639.
Data you provide directly
When you submit a booking request, contact us, or interact with our website, we may collect the following personal data: your full name, email address, phone number, nationality, passport number, date of birth where required for ticketing purposes, dietary requirements, medical conditions or health information relevant to your trek, fitness level, preferred language, and any additional information you choose to provide in the notes field of our booking form.
Data collected automatically
When you visit our website, we may collect technical data including your IP address, browser type and version, operating system, referring website, pages visited, and time spent on each page. This data is collected through cookies and similar tracking technologies and is used for website analytics and performance improvement.
Data from third parties
If you contact us through a travel agency, B2B partner, or referral platform, we may receive personal data about you from those third parties. We process this data in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
We use the personal data we collect for the following purposes.
To process and manage your booking. Your name, passport number, contact details, and booking information are necessary to confirm your reservation, purchase Machu Picchu entrance tickets on your behalf, coordinate logistics with our guide and porter teams, and communicate with you about your trek.
To deliver trek services. Your dietary requirements, medical information, and fitness level are shared with our guide and kitchen teams to ensure that the services delivered on the trail meet your specific needs and that your safety is properly managed.
To process payments. Payment processing is handled by WeTravel, a third-party platform. We do not store payment card information. WeTravel’s own privacy policy governs the handling of your payment data.
To communicate with you. We use your contact details to respond to inquiries, send booking confirmations, provide pre-trek information, and follow up after your trek. With your consent, we may also send you information about our services, promotions, and relevant travel content.
To improve our services. Anonymized and aggregated data about how our website is used and how our treks are received helps us improve our offerings. We do not use individually identifiable data for this purpose.
To comply with legal obligations. We may be required to process and retain certain personal data to comply with Peruvian law, including tax and accounting requirements, and to cooperate with government or regulatory authorities where legally required.
Your passport number is collected specifically for the purpose of purchasing Machu Picchu entrance tickets, which are issued by the Peruvian Ministry of Culture and linked to the passport number of each participant. This information is submitted directly to the Ministry of Culture ticketing system and to PeruRail or Inca Rail for train reservations where applicable. It is not used for any other purpose and is not retained beyond the period necessary for the delivery of your trek services.
Health and medical information you provide, including dietary requirements, allergies, altitude-related concerns, and any medical conditions relevant to the trek, is classified as sensitive personal data. We collect this information only where it is necessary for your safety and the delivery of appropriate services on the trail. This information is shared only with the guide, cook, and porter team directly responsible for your trek and is not disclosed to any other third party. It is retained only for the duration necessary to deliver your trek services and is then securely deleted.
We do not sell your personal data to third parties under any circumstances.
We share personal data with third parties only to the extent necessary to deliver our services. These third parties include the Peruvian Ministry of Culture for Machu Picchu ticketing, PeruRail and Inca Rail for train reservations, WeTravel for payment processing, our guide, cook, and porter teams for trek delivery, and accommodation providers along the lodge route where applicable.
Where we share data with third-party service providers, we require them to handle that data in accordance with applicable data protection standards and solely for the purpose for which it was shared.
We may disclose personal data to government authorities, law enforcement, or regulatory bodies where required to do so by Peruvian law or where necessary to protect the safety of our clients or staff.
If Salkantay Horizons or My Peru Destinations Group is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, personal data held by us may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify affected individuals of any such transfer and the privacy protections that apply.
As a Peru-based company serving international clients, the personal data we collect may be processed and stored in Peru. When you submit a booking from another country, your data is transferred to Peru for processing. We take reasonable steps to ensure that this data is protected in accordance with the standards set out in this Privacy Policy.
Payment data processed through WeTravel may be transferred to and stored in the United States in accordance with WeTravel’s privacy policy and data protection practices.
We retain personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected or as required by law.
Booking and contact information is retained for a period of five years following the completion of your trek for accounting, legal, and tax compliance purposes. Health and medical information is retained only for the duration of your trek and is securely deleted within 30 days of trek completion. Website analytics data is retained in anonymized form for a period of two years. Marketing communication preferences are retained until you withdraw consent or request deletion.
Our website uses cookies, which are small text files stored on your device, to improve website functionality and analyze traffic. We use the following types of cookies.
Essential cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be disabled. Analytics cookies allow us to understand how visitors use our website through tools such as Google Analytics. These cookies collect anonymized data and do not identify individual users. Marketing cookies, where used, allow us to deliver relevant content and measure the effectiveness of our communications.
You can manage your cookie preferences through your browser settings. Disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of our website.
Depending on your country of residence, you may have the following rights in relation to your personal data.
The right to access the personal data we hold about you and to receive a copy of it. The right to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data. The right to request deletion of your personal data where it is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and where no legal obligation requires us to retain it. The right to object to the processing of your personal data for marketing purposes at any time. The right to withdraw consent to processing where processing is based on your consent, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before the withdrawal. The right to data portability, meaning the right to receive your personal data in a structured, machine-readable format where technically feasible.
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at info@salkantay-trail.com. We will respond to all requests within 30 days. In some cases we may need to verify your identity before processing your request.
We take reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect personal data against unauthorized access, loss, destruction, or alteration. These measures include secure transmission of data via encrypted connections, restricted access to personal data within our organization on a need-to-know basis, regular review of our data handling practices, and use of reputable third-party platforms such as WeTravel that maintain their own security standards.
No method of electronic transmission or storage is completely secure. While we take the protection of your data seriously, we cannot guarantee absolute security and accept no liability for unauthorized access that occurs despite reasonable security measures being in place.
Our website and booking services are not directed at children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 16 without the explicit consent of a parent or guardian. Where a booking includes participants under the age of 16, the personal data relating to those participants is provided by and managed through the responsible adult making the booking.
Our website may contain links to third-party websites including travel platforms, accommodation providers, and partner organizations. This Privacy Policy applies only to the Salkantay Horizons website and services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of third-party websites and encourage you to review the privacy policies of any external sites you visit.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our data handling practices or applicable law. The current version of this policy is always available on our website with the date of the most recent update. Where changes are material, we will notify active clients by email.
For any questions, concerns, or requests relating to this Privacy Policy or your personal data, contact us at:
Email: info@salkantay-trail.com WhatsApp: +51 921 333 639 Location: Cusco, Peru
We take all privacy inquiries seriously and will respond within 30 days of receiving your request.
Salkantay Horizons — My Peru Destinations Group Last updated: 2025
Salkantay Horizons operates in one of the most ecologically and culturally significant landscapes on earth. The Salkantay route passes through protected natural areas, indigenous Quechua communities, and a mountain ecosystem that is visibly changing due to climate pressures that the communities living beneath it did not create. We take the responsibility that comes with bringing visitors into this environment seriously, and this policy sets out how that responsibility translates into operational practice.
Responsible travel is not a marketing position for us. It is a set of specific commitments that shape how we hire, how we pay, how we move through the landscape, and what we ask of the people who travel with us.
Every member of the Salkantay Horizons team is from Cusco or the surrounding communities. Our guides, porters, cooks, drivers, and office staff are all local. We do not employ expatriate staff in roles that can be filled by local professionals, and we do not use intermediary agencies to hire porters or support staff.
Our guides receive competitive salaries that reflect their professional qualifications, language skills, and the physical demands of their work. Several of our senior guides have been with the company since its founding and their knowledge of the route, developed over years of walking it in every season, is the foundation of the service we deliver.
We actively support the career development of our team members. Guides who begin as assistant guides are given structured pathways to lead guide positions. Porters who express interest in guide training are supported with time and resources to pursue the necessary certifications. This is not a policy statement. It is a practice reflected in the career histories of people currently working with us.
The treatment of porters on Andean trekking routes has historically been poor in significant parts of the industry. Salkantay Horizons operates to a standard that goes beyond legal compliance.
Our porters are paid above the legal minimum wage for their work on every departure. Payment is made directly to each porter at the conclusion of each trek, not through intermediaries. Porters receive the same meals as the trekking group, including hot breakfast and dinner prepared by the camp cook. Cold-weather gear including insulated jackets, waterproof layers, and appropriate footwear is provided for all porters on departures that involve overnight stays above 3,500 meters.
The maximum load carried by any porter on a Salkantay Horizons trek is 7 kilograms of group equipment in addition to their personal gear. This is enforced without exception. We do not ask porters to carry more than this regardless of group size or logistical pressure.
Porters are covered by basic accident and medical insurance for the duration of their work on our treks. In the event of injury on the trail, we cover the cost of medical treatment and do not require porters to continue working if they are unwell or injured.
We encourage our clients to learn the names of the porter team and to interact with them as the skilled professionals they are rather than as invisible background support. The farewell ceremony at the end of each trek, where trekkers have the opportunity to thank the team directly, is a genuine part of the experience and not a performance.
Waste management All waste generated on a Salkantay Horizons trek is carried out of the mountain. This includes food waste, packaging, human waste from toilet facilities, and any other materials brought onto the trail. Nothing is buried, burned, or left at campsites. Our kitchen team operates with specific protocols for managing organic and non-organic waste separately. We carry the same load out that we carry in.
Water sources No waste of any kind is deposited within 50 meters of any water source on the route. Washing of dishes, cooking equipment, and personal hygiene is conducted using biodegradable products and at an appropriate distance from natural water sources. Our cooks are briefed on these protocols and held accountable to them.
Campsite selection and impact We camp only at established campsites along the Salkantay route. We do not create new campsites or expand existing ones. Camp setup and breakdown follows a specific protocol designed to minimize ground disturbance. Fire is not used at campsites where it is not already an established practice and never in areas where vegetation could be affected.
Flora and fauna Trekkers are briefed before departure on the importance of not picking plants, disturbing wildlife, or removing any natural materials from the trail corridor. Our guides actively identify and explain the ecological significance of the species encountered on the route. The knowledge that you are walking through a living ecosystem with specific sensitivities shapes how we move through it.
Group size We cap our group sizes at 12 people on camping routes and 8 on the lodge route. These limits exist partly for service quality and partly for environmental reasons. Larger groups cause disproportionate trail damage, campsite degradation, and wildlife disturbance. We will not increase these limits for commercial reasons.
The communities of Mollepata, Soraypampa, Chaullay, Santa Teresa, and the other settlements along the Salkantay corridor are not backdrop. They are the living context of the route and their relationship with the landscape predates the trekking industry by centuries.
We source food for our treks from Cusco markets, prioritizing local producers where possible. Where specific products are available from farming communities along the route, such as coffee and cacao from the Santa Teresa valley, we buy from those producers directly.
We direct our clients toward community-owned services in the towns along the route, including the community-managed entrance to Humantay Lake, the hot spring pools in Santa Teresa, and locally owned restaurants in Aguas Calientes. Spending in these communities benefits them directly rather than being captured by outside operators.
Our guides include the cultural and historical context of the communities they pass through as a core part of their narrative on the trail. The Quechua communities of the Salkantay corridor have a living relationship with this landscape that is not reducible to folklore or heritage tourism. We try to convey that relationship accurately.
We do not organize visits to private homes or community spaces without prior arrangement and genuine consent from the community members involved. Spontaneous visits to homes for photographic purposes are not something we facilitate.
The Salkantay massif is a sacred landscape. The mountain itself, Apu Salkantay, is a living deity in the Quechua cosmological tradition. Humantay Lake is a sacred site where offerings are still made regularly by community members. The pass crossing at 4,630 meters is not simply a physical achievement. It is a passage through territory that carries profound spiritual significance for the people who have lived beneath it for thousands of years.
We ask all trekkers to approach these places with the respect that their significance warrants. At Humantay Lake, we ask trekkers to observe the offerings at the shoreline without disturbing them and to understand that the site is actively used for spiritual practice by local community members, not preserved as a cultural exhibit.
At the Salkantay Pass, the cairns of stones and coca leaf offerings visible at the summit are expressions of a living practice. Trekkers are welcome to add a stone to a cairn as a personal gesture. We ask that they do not add inappropriate objects, remove existing offerings, or treat the site as a photo opportunity without awareness of its significance.
Throughout the route, we ask trekkers to request permission before photographing community members, particularly children and elders, and to respect a refusal without argument.
The Salkantay glacier is retreating. Climate scientists monitoring the massif have documented significant and accelerating ice loss over recent decades. The meltwater from the Salkantay glacier feeds the rivers, lakes, and agricultural systems of the communities in the surrounding valleys. The retreat of the glacier is not an abstract environmental statistic for these communities. It is a direct threat to their water security and agricultural viability.
We include information about glacial retreat and its implications as part of the guide narrative on every trek. We believe that visitors who understand what they are looking at when they see the glacier are better equipped to care about its future than visitors who simply photograph it.
We support the work of local conservation initiatives monitoring glacial change in the Cusco region. Several members of our guide team are involved in community-based glacier monitoring projects and we make time and logistical resources available to support that work.
We encourage all trekkers to consider the carbon footprint of their travel and to take steps to offset it where possible. We are honest about the fact that the flights that bring international visitors to Peru are among the most significant contributors to the atmospheric warming that is accelerating the glacier’s retreat. That tension does not resolve easily. We believe that visitors who come with awareness and respect contribute more to the long-term case for protecting this landscape than visitors who stay away.
Responsible travel is a shared responsibility. The commitments above describe what Salkantay Horizons does. This section describes what we ask of the people who travel with us.
Follow the instructions of your guide team at all times on the trail. Their decisions about route, pace, campsite use, and conduct in sensitive areas are made with experience, local knowledge, and responsibility for the landscape in mind.
Carry out everything you carry in. Leave no food waste, packaging, or personal items on the trail or at campsites. If you see waste left by other groups, carry it out as well.
Respect the ecological sensitivity of the trail corridor. Stay on the marked trail. Do not pick plants, disturb wildlife, or remove rocks, fossils, or any natural materials from the route.
Approach local communities with curiosity and respect rather than as a photographic subject or a cultural performance. Ask before photographing. Accept a no graciously.
Treat the sacred sites along the route, including Humantay Lake and the Salkantay Pass, with the awareness that they are places of active spiritual significance, not tourist attractions with spiritual branding.
Tip your guides and porters fairly. The tipping culture on Andean treks reflects the gap between what the industry charges and what workers at the base of the supply chain receive. A fair tip for a guide on a five-day trek is between $15 and $20 USD per day. For porters, between $8 and $12 USD per day. These are not obligations. They are suggestions grounded in what a fair distribution of value looks like on a trek of this kind.
Purchase travel insurance before you come. Emergency evacuations from high-altitude environments are expensive and logistically complex. Trekkers who arrive without insurance create situations where the cost and complexity of an emergency fall on people who had no part in the decision not to insure.
Responsible travel commitments are only meaningful if they are monitored and reported honestly. We conduct an internal review of our environmental and labor practices annually and update this policy accordingly. Guide and porter team feedback is solicited formally at the end of each trekking season as part of this review.
We welcome feedback from trekkers on any aspect of our responsible travel practice. If you observe something on a trek that does not align with the commitments in this policy, we want to know about it. Contact us at info@salkantay-trail.com with your observations and we will address them directly.
We do not claim to be a perfect operation. We claim to be an operation that takes these responsibilities seriously, reviews its practices honestly, and is committed to improving over time.
Salkantay Horizons is proud to be part of My Peru Destinations Group, a Cusco-based tourism corporation committed to responsible and sustainable tourism practices across all its brands and operations.
Lokales Trekkingunternehmen mit Sitz in Cusco, Spezialisierung in kleinen Gruppen, nachhaltig Salkantay- und Inka-Trail-Expeditionen.
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