Was an incredible journey through the jungle on a 5 day trek. xai our guide spoke great English, had great knowledge of the area and plants, and also an excellent cook. Stayed 3 nights in the jungle, one night in an improvised shelter made from banana leaves. Was great to see the techniques used to survive in this harsh environment. Hiking itself was certainly a challenge but so rewarding. Our last night at a home stay was comfy and everyone very friendly. It was great to see a slice of life from khmu people in Nalan village. 10/10 would recommend, even just for the food.

Super expérience with Noy and his team, I recommend for sure! Wild, trek, kayak, beautiful people. We did it with a group of 9 and it was perfect

We booked our jungle tour at the Hiker. First of all, the Hiker Travel Agency has a permit to visit certain areas of the Jungle. Therefore, the places you visit during your tracks are unique and untouched. Trails crossing different areas of the Jungle with a large amount of biodiverse plant species to observe. Everyday we washed ourselves in streams or rivers. Also, we visited a Khmu village where we helped the local people on the rice fields and learned about there traditions. In summary, the jungle tracks were amazing and the guides were fantastic. We did a 4 days and 3 night trail with guide Xai (could speak English) and local guide Phut? (Sorry haha). They both were collecting food during the day to eat during lunch or at night. Xai had a lot of experience in the Jungle and he was a perfect Chef delivering us outstanding meals. As a cherry on top he made us hand carved bamboo cups for our coffee. Definitely the best experience in Laos so far, thanks a lot!

I chose a 3 days trek called "Wild Explorer" because the agency certified me we could see wildlife. The only thing we saw was a frog... However we were a quiet group of 3 persons. The "guides" (two random guys barely speaking english) didn't have any still to spot wildlife. They explained that Lao people ate every animal around so there were almost nothing left. At least they were honest. It's very expensive for only hiking in a part of the park (that you can do by your own) with no charm at all exept for the last hour. You just can't ask people to pay that much for that kind of tour, neither tell them fake information to be sure they buy your tour.

Me and a friend did the 3 day ‘hunter trail’ trekking tour which was amazing! The walking is hard work but very rewarding with lots of amazing views along the way, and the cool wooden huts where you spend the first night make you feel really immersed in the jungle! Our tour guides, Sai and Vieng, cooked us some of the best meals we’ve had in Laos. They were both so much fun to trek with and it was so interesting seeing the techniques they use to build, cook and survive in the jungle. The locals in the khmu village we stayed at on the second night were so inviting and we really felt like we got an authentic experience. Highly recommend this tour!

Great experience, back to basics. Especially our tour guide Xai was fantastic. The food was amazing, as well as the explanations about the nature, the area, and the animals.

it was a nice trip, our git Xai was very friendly and spoke good English, told us a lot about the village and nature. he cooked really tasty food, great chef

Used this agency to do a 1 day kayak trip. I picked them over three others as they were the cheapest and as a solo traveller they could advertise that 1 person had booked and as they are located on the Main Street this would be seen by others who would hopefully join and lower the price. I was kayaking late January and already the first 8km that are normally used on the Nam Tha river was too low to use so the journey was only 17km not 25km which for an amateur like me was more than enough. The river is slow moving which means more paddling! Adrenaline wise it wasn’t that exciting as the river is very tame in the dry season but I still enjoyed being in the river, the scenery and the lunchtime bbq. Thid was my guide. His English is basic but enough that we could get by. He went at my pace and was happy for me to take as many breaks as I needed. He even made me a cup out of Bamboo when I made a comment about drinking, so I was very happy with him. Overall it was a great day out and I would happily use The Hiker again.

Just came back from the 3 day/2 night Wild Thrill trek with the Hiker. It was amazing!! Our guides Peng and Vong were brilliant. I loved learning about the jungle, Lao people and Lao culture. Both the night in the jungle and in the homestay village were really special. Incredible food, some of it foraged from the jungle and all cooked over open fires was a real highlight (I'm vegetarian and this was no problem at all). Go for it! Take an inflatable pillow if you have one! PS the Wild Thrill trek was labelled as 5 hours of walking each day but it isn't - the 5 hours includes a leisurely lunch and lots of breaks :)

Great 1 day trek in the forests followed by an equally good day kayaking, many Thanks to Pheng who was a fantastic guide and Li who came kayaking with us. Midway through kayaking we stopped and they built a campfire and cooked the fish that we had bought live from the market before we left. The ingenuity with bamboo was incredible and while the fish was cooked salad and dips were made and we had a feast. Thanks ti Hiker and Pheng and Li we really enjoyed our time here in Luang namtha.

Such a great experience to discover Lao landscape and a typical village. Our guide Xai was really kind. He explained a lot and was great with the kids.

We started from a village and after walking through farmlands and cattle we walked straight into the jungle. Banana trees, bamboo and big very old trees accompanied us on the way. Halfway the day at the top of the ridge we were served tasty lunch on banana leaves. We went on for a couple of hours till we arrived at our destination: a bamboo hut covered with banana leaves on top and on the floor. We were wellcomed with campfire and Peng started to prepare our meals for which he bought the ingredients at the morning market. With his knife he created stove, jugs and chopsticks from bamboo. Food tasted excellent and not too spicy. After dinner we were asked if we would like to catch frogs? I like frogs, but not for eating. Therefore his assistent went looking under a stone in the water stream nearby. He showed us a small river crab and fish that he catched with his bare hands. We were allready satisfied from dinner, but we saw him making a barbecue later. Night was a bit chilly, but nevertheless I had a good night. Next morning we had a beautiful walk along the stream surrounded by banana trees and even more huge old trees qith the sound of birds in the background. We saw women gathering herbs for a wedding. On the way Peng showed us bark from which they create tiger balm. We entered a village with a primary school that has been setup in cooperation between village and government which looked peacefully. I want to thank Peng who learned us a lot about forest and birds!

We had a great trek with The Hiker. It was well organised and our guide Kum was excellent at communication and kept us well informed. He was knowledgeable and happy to share. His English was good. The other guides were also kind and respectful. And they cooked some of the best food we had in Laos. I loved how they were growing a vege garden at the camping spot.

If you are able to read any of my reviews that I have written along the way you would soon see I am very much a positive review writer. This review will be different. It has been over a week since we came off of our 2 day jungle trek/kayak experience. I am still unable to sit comfortably and we are now in Vietnam and have had to cancel our motorbike excursions because my coccyx bone is quite bruised from the less than adequate equipment that was available for my trip down the river. Our first boat was patched on land, with little success, as a short distance down river we were without air and my guide was unable to steer clear of the rocks. We made it to a local village where we swapped out boats but by the time it was carried to the water’s edge it needed more air. And yes, we got in the boat and before long my guide was sitting in more water than I (And I sat in quite a bit of water.) and again, was unable to navigate around the rocks, so inevitably, my bottom was continually banged into the rocks where we stayed until my guide got out and spun us off the rock. It could have been such an enjoyable paddle down the river, even in the downpouring rain, but because this company does not pride themselves in having quality gear, it was a very long kayak trip and I am still paying the price for it. For this reason, I would not recommend this group at all. On a positive note, the food that was prepared in the jungle was quite delicious and very impressive. Also, our stay in a local village was also quite remarkable, so if you are only trekking, consider them, but if you are doing something where you need their equipment, do yourself a favor and steer clear.

Overall, we enjoyed our 3 day hike on the Hunter Trail. The food was definitely the highlight, both food brought with from the market and especially that foraged while hiking. The hike had a good variety of scenery between the fields and village life to primary and secondary forest. A couple of things we thought could be improved. There was the lack of basic camping education such as leave no trace principles, which was definitely needed in our group of mixed experience. There were a few camps used by The Hiker that had toilet paper and plastic wrappers left behind. Although our guides, Noy and Puon, did a good job of cleaning up plastic along the way. When we arrived at the village there was no introduction to our host family nor explanation of appropriate social interactions which left a bit of guessing on our part. In hindsight we should have asked for clarification.