If you are thinking about visiting the Hopi Reservation, I would encourage you to go with a reputable Hopi tour company.  One of these companies is Hopi Tours, which is led by Hopi anthropologist Micah Loma’omvaya.  As I read about Hopi Tours on-line, I learned that the company has been giving tours on Hopi lands since 1540!

Of course, this was the year that Spanish conquistador Pedro de Tovar and a small group of soldiers, a few Zuni guides, and a Franciscan priest, came across the Hopi people on Antelope Mesa. After a bloody fight, and a “tour” of the villages on First Mesa, the Hopis promptly directed the Spaniards to go west toward the Grand Canyon. The Hopis did not want these “tourists” sticking around.

Today, tourism plays a very important economic role on the Hopi Reservation and it provides Hopis with opportunities to share their culture with visitors.  For more information about upcoming tours, including a special book tour on Hopi Summer by Carolyn O’Bagy Davis, please download the following brochures: Hopi Tours 2011 Brochure Rates / Book Tours Hopi Summer 2011

Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert