In 2016, co-founder and Chief Explorer Nick Stanziano set out on a series of treks with a diverse and expert expedition crew – including a 4-month, 3000-kilometer expedition from Achupallas, Ecuador to Cusco, Peru. Now, we’ve compiled never-before-seen video footage into a thrilling video series to bring attention back to this passion project.
Stretching 2000 miles, the Great Inca Trail is part of a larger Andean road network called the Qhapaq Ñan, which once linked the most advanced pre-industrial society in South America: the Inca Empire. A core pillar of our company’s purpose aims to generate awareness and unlock the intrinsic value of the road through tourism, with the end goal of incentivizing the conservation of one of the world’s most vulnerable cultural patrimonies.
As road systems have transformed and modernized throughout the centuries, parts of the Qhapaq Ñan were abandoned and are now disappearing. Our mission is to not only bring awareness, protection, and sustainable development to this vulnerable cultural heritage and the communities along it, but to use responsible tourism as a catalyst for conservation and economic stimulus by exploring one of humanity’s greatest pre-industrial road systems ever built.
The below video series, shot entirely on Chief Explorer Nick’s smartphone during the trekking expeditions, feature some of the most extensive footage ever created to highlight the modern state of the Great Inca Trail network. The expeditions were also chronicled real-time on social media (see our expedition-specific Facebook and Instagram feeds) and compiled in this free publication.
These videos are meant to nudge along our continued efforts in awareness and establishing “leave-no-trace” adventure experiences on the Inca Road in 2022 and beyond - We currently have small groups trekking the Great Inca trail today and plans to introduce our greater SA Expeditions network, media, and industry partners to the unrivalled beauty and stark realities of the Great Inca Trail. Don’t hesitate to reach out!
Perhaps the best part of all? Each and every trek SA brings our clients on is executed by our original, world-class trekking team featured in our Great Inca Trail video series, including:
Valentin, a constant Andean ambassador for our GIT project from the rural highlands of Cusco, who has trekked through four countries on the Inca road.
Flavio, our chef in charge of whipping up exquisite Andean meals full of local superfoods sourced locally from markets and farmers along each route.
Aypate, the little horse with a big personality who continues to be a staple presence in each of our clients’ Choquechaca community experiences.
Henner, our muleteer and cornerstone in the Vilcabamba region for our explorations to the last cities of the Inca.
Antonia, our llama herder and cornerstone in the Pariacaca region who took the team for weeks through southern Peru on the GIT arriving to Cusco.
And now, without further ado…
Follow along the Great Inca Trail series on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube.