A Melbourne Man Is Missing After Trekking Alone in Peru, Here's Why We Never Let a Client Do That in Nepal

Jordan Yap, a 30-year-old from Melbourne, hasn’t been heard from since he set off alone into Peru’s remote Cordillera Huayhuash on September 14 for what was meant to be a 10-day solo trek — and his family says Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed it is providing consular assistance while a private mountain rescue team searches the range.

What happened to Jordan Yap in Peru

Yap left his hostel in the trailhead town of Huaraz on September 14 to walk the Huayhuash Circuit alone, telling his family in Melbourne he would be unreachable for the full 10 days. He was due back in time to check into a Huaraz hotel on September 23 and catch a flight from Lima to Cusco the next day. He did neither. His father, Vinh Dao, told the ABC that the family only realised something was wrong when both the check-in and the flight were missed, and that this was one of Jordan’s first solo trips despite him being an experienced hiker. The family has since hired a private mountain rescue team, which has completed an initial search and reported a positive identification of Jordan on its second day — his whereabouts and condition remain unconfirmed at time of writing.

Does Peru require a guide for a trek like the Huayhuash Circuit

No. Unlike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, which requires a licensed guide and a permit booked months ahead, the Huayhuash Circuit is unregulated high-altitude backcountry — there is no checkpoint, no permit system and no rule stopping a foreign trekker from walking it entirely alone. Australia’s own government advice for Peru sits at “exercise a high degree of caution”, citing violent crime and periodic unrest, and while the communities along the Huayhuash have worked for years to make the trail safer after a fatal robbery there decades ago, the region is still remote, high-altitude, prone to sudden weather and effectively outside mobile coverage for most of its length. Most trekkers hire a local guide for exactly those reasons; on this circuit, it is a choice, not a requirement.

What Nepal requires that Peru doesn't

Nepal moved the other way. Since 2023, independent foreign trekkers have not been permitted into Nepal’s trekking regions without a licensed guide, and restricted areas such as Manaslu, Upper Mustang and Nar Phu have required a registered guide for even longer. It is not a bureaucratic add-on: a licensed guide is also the person who reads the day’s weather window, keeps a group’s pace to what the altitude allows, and can raise an alarm the same day someone fails to reach the next teahouse — not ten days later. On every trek we run, that guide reports in daily, which is the entire point of the rule.

What this means if you're planning a solo trek anywhere

What this means for you

A solo trek isn’t reckless by itself — plenty of experienced hikers do them safely every year. What actually protects you is a dated itinerary held by someone who will act on it, not a single “I’ll be off-grid for 10 days” message. Leave your family a day-by-day plan with named villages or camps, not just a start and end date; register your trip with your embassy before you go; and on any route without mobile coverage, treat a guide as the fastest possible search-and-rescue trigger, not an optional add-on. We would not send a client alone into terrain like the Huayhuash without exactly that structure in place, and it is why Nepal doesn’t let you either.

What to do if a family member goes missing on a trek abroad

Contact the nearest embassy or consulate immediately — DFAT, the FCDO or the State Department, depending on nationality — and file a report with local police in that country at the same time, not one after the other. Ask the embassy directly whether it can liaise with local search-and-rescue on your behalf, since, as Yap’s family found, that assistance is not always immediate. A private mountain rescue team can move faster than official channels in remote terrain, but it works best alongside consular pressure, not instead of it.

If a guided Himalayan trek is more your speed than a solo backcountry circuit, our Manaslu Circuit runs with a licensed guide and a support team as standard, with a daily check-in built into every itinerary.

Peru travel advice: Smartraveller, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Cover photo: Shahar Michael Cohen via Pexels (Pexels License). Section photos: Mario Vogt via Pexels (Pexels licence); Joshuan Barboza via Pexels (Pexels licence); Jose Luis QE via Pexels (Pexels licence); Namal Siriwardana via Pexels (Pexels licence); Maël BALLAND via Pexels (Pexels licence).