USA
The first peoples of the United States are increasingly telling their story to visitors
Native Dakota
The US’s Indigenous heritage predates the stars and stripes by some 12,000 years. What’s much more recent is the growing number of travel experiences where Native American communities are highlighting their cultures on their own terms. One such tour focuses on less-explored North and South Dakota. The new nine-day National Parks and Native Trails of the Dakotas itinerary, from tour company Trafalgar, takes in the weathered landscapes and bison ranges of Badlands and Theodore Roosevelt National Park, and historic sites such as the memorial to the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee. But at the heart of the programme, designed in partnership with Native tourism representatives, are the four Indian Reservations of the Oglala Lakota and fellow nations, some of which are welcoming tour groups for the first time. It’s a chance to learn directly from Indigenous communities, whether it’s knowledge of the stars from a Lakota elder or cultural dances of the MHA Nation. Tours from £2,925 per person. trafalgar.com
West coast museums
California has a particularly great diversity of Indigenous cultures, and several new centres help to give a fuller account of the Native peoples of the Pacific coast. The revamped museum of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians is set to open later this year in Palm Springs, part of a cultural plaza that includes a hot spring spa informed by traditional healing techniques. A museum for the Santa Ynez Chumash people near Santa Barbara is also near completion. visitcalifornia.com/native
Oklahoma’s ancestors
The First Americans Museum opened in 2021 in Oklahoma City, capital of a state that’s home
