Lakota people history & culture tours

Choose from two holidays that delve into the history and culture of the Native Americans.

Enter the sacred circle on this expansive journey into Lakota culture. This odyssey traverses the wide open prairie, shining mountains, rolling plains and mighty rivers of the Lakota Nation, the landscape of the dreamers and the dreams.

We follow the history of the Lakota people through great leaders such as Sitting Bull, Red Cloud, and Crazy Horse, and attempt to appreciate the historic and contemporary realities of the Tetonwan Oyate.

We enter the Centennial Summer of 1876. Their names are now legendary but before the legends there was the courage, sacrifice and bravery of human beings who carried the names Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Gall and Two Moons... Crook, Custer, Washakie and Medicine Crow. You follow their paths to the Rosebud and the Little Bighorn and learn why it happened and why the struggle continues today.

Lakota culture from £1995 - £2250 (12 days) excluding flights. Local payments approx $140
2008: 27 May, 08 Jun, 18 Aug
Begin by entering He Sapa Wakan – The Heart of Everything That Is – the sacred Black Hills, Holy Land of the Lakota people. In the Black Hills we seek out Tatanka, the buffalo, and in sight of one of the last free herds of buffalo we will explore the spiritual and physical significance of the buffalo to the Lakota people. At Wind Cave we will learn of Lakota genesis. At the Place of the Thunders, Hinhan Kaja Paha, we ascend the highest point in the Black Hills upon which Black Elk experienced much of what embodied the story of his life as told in Black Elk Speaks. At the Bear's Lodge (Devils Tower) we hear ancient tribal explanations of the sacred rock’s creation, then standing before the sacred mountain, Inyan Kara.

Traveling north to the band of Crazy Horse’s mother, the Minneconjou Lakota of the Cheyenne River Reservation, we visit the area where Pte San Win, the White Buffalo Calf Woman, brought the Sacred Pipe to the Lakotas and the knowledge of the Seven Sacred Rites. With tribal members, we discuss the significance and sanctity of the pipe. Continuing north, we reach the Standing Rock Reservation of the Hunkpapa Lakota, the band of Sitting Bull and Gall, whom are among the great leaders we will discuss. We explore the life and legacy of Tatanka Iyotake, the great Hunkpapa Lakota patriot and visionary – Sitting Bull. From his birthplace on the Standing Rock Reservation, to his resistance of white encroachment and inspiring leadership, we visit the sites and discuss the events that shaped the life of Sitting Bull Heading south through the Crow Creek Reservation, we visit the Akta Lakota Museum and Heritage Center, then we continue south to Fort Pierre on the Missouri River.

Amidst the incredible landscape of Mako Sica, the Badlands, we hear the perspectives of Lakota ambassadors whose ancestors gave all to protect Lakota culture: from the arrival of the Europeans, to ‘Red Cloud’s War’ of 1866 and the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, to the Battle of the Little Bighorn and the Wounded Knee Massacre. Driving through the Badlands to Pine Ridge Reservation we reach the land of Red Cloud, the Oglala Lakota Nation, and take the Chief Red Cloud trail on the way to Wounded Knee. We finish our journey at one of the most sacred sites on the Northern Plains – Mato Paha - Bear Butte

Sitting Bull journey from £2045 (14 days) excluding flights. Local payments approx $150
2008: 05 Jul.
High on a bluff overlooking the Knife River in the Upper Missouri River valley, soft winds ruffle the lush grasses that cover, but cannot hide circle after circle of raised earth with central depressions. Our journey begins at these Old Villages - beautiful marks of vibrant culture and here we learn of the formation of Cheyenne bands, the Cheyenne nation’s development and the subsequent arrival of Hunkpapa Lakotas into this area; this world into which Sitting Bull was born. From the Missouri to the Yellowstone Rivers on the plains of his homeland, we learn of Sitting Bull’s family and of significant events from his childhood and youth with insights from his descendents.

In that environment we explore traditional Lakota ways to place Sitting Bull’s life into cultural context, before reviewing the attitudes of the Euro-Americans and seeking to appreciate Sitting Bull’s concept of the world that he knew, aside that which would ultimately be forced upon his people. Exploring Fort’s Rice and Stevenson, we discuss Sitting Bull’s 1866 campaign to close the Missouri River Forts. On Standing Rock Reservation we discuss the rise of the Midnight Strong Hearts – the elite warrior society of Sitting Bull, Gall and Crow King. We learn too of Sitting Bull’s roles as chief, and as a Sun Dancer. The building of Fort Abe Lincoln (the ultimate in ‘no-bid-contracts’ for the Northern Pacific Railroad), brought Custer and his 7th Cavalry, and here we begin the road to the Little Bighorn. The so-called Great Sioux War of 1876 remains the most famous ‘Indian War’ but many sites are remote or known only to a handful of historians or descendents of participants.

Chalk Buttes, Mizpah Creek, Powder River and Pumpkin Creek; all Lakota and Cheyenne camp sites and we find that the vast plains, mountains and endless skies of Montana and Wyoming add to the lure that is embodied by those associated with this epic struggle: Crazy Horse, George A Custer, Sitting Bull, Medicine Crow, George Crook, Low Dog, Gall… We travel up the Rosebud to Cone Butte then to the Deer Medicine Rocks; the outstanding Cheyenne and Lakota sacred site where Sitting Bull’s vision of soldiers without ears falling like grasshoppers into camp can still be seen. We follow the fateful route of the Cheyenne, the Lakota and the Seventh Cavalry to the Little Bighorn, reliving the battle, and viewing the terrain as Crazy Horse and Custer saw it, starting at the village along the Little Bighorn River and following the battle as it unfolded