Embrace the original ways of the land with Intrepid’s new and improved experiences which centre Indigenous people and share their stories around the world.
Have you really seen New Zealand before you’ve hand-shucked oysters and shared a seafood feast with Maori hosts? Or scraped the surface of Mexico unless you’ve admired its folk-art chapels with Otomi guides? Connecting with the original inhabitants of the land is not only a way to enrich your travels, but an opportunity to learn new skills and support Indigenous communities, all while connecting more deeply with the people and places you visit.
From reindeer herders in Arctic Norway to rice farmers on Indonesia’s Sumba Island, each group has its own stories, foods and ways of knowing their home. And since Intrepid made a commitment to launch new and expanded Indigenous-led experiences, it’s now easier than ever to unlock that rich vein of local history, culture, food and traditions in regions that are often tricky to navigate solo. Here are 10 new ones to add to your list in 2027.
1. Shuck oysters with Maori on New Zealand’s North Island
Your New Zealand North Island Adventure begins where the country’s story does: in sun-washed Tauranga, beneath the sacred volcanic cone of Mauao, where a Maori guide shows you one of the first spots their ancestors landed their waka (canoes) during early Maori settlement of Polynesia. You’ll cruise Ohiwa Harbour to Tio Ohiwa, a thoroughly modern Maori-owned oyster farm, to try your hand at shucking, before a kaimoana (seafood) dinner. In Rotorua’s living village of Ohinemutu, locals greet you in their marae (meeting house) with a powhiri (welcoming ceremony) of speeches and song.
2. Learn hunting and cooking with the Seediq in Taiwan
Between Taipei’s night markets and Sun Moon Lake’s shimmering shores, the Taiwan Family Holiday heads into Nantou County’s mountains to visit the Meixi Tribe, a Seediq community that lives by the ancestral code of Gaya, which guides everything from hunting to farming. Try their traditional hunting techniques, then roll up your sleeves to make banana-millet cake, the sweet, sticky snack hunters once carried into the forest. (It also symbolises family togetherness, so expect plenty of sharing.)
Read more: Meet the Navajo guides of Arizona’s Canyon de Chelly
3. Volunteer with Bunong mahouts in Cambodia
No rides, no tricks, just elephants being elephants. Intrepid was one of the first companies to drop elephant rides, and on the Cambodia Family Holiday with Teenagers you’ll experience a more respectful interaction with the largest land animal on Earth. A day at the Elephant Valley Project, Cambodia’s first elephant sanctuary, includes a guided forest hike and meeting the rescued and retired elephants in the care of Indigenous Bunong mahouts, while learning how their people have long honoured these lands. After a Bunong-cooked lunch, pitch in with a reforestation activity or building project.
4. Step inside the painted chapels of the Otomi in Mexico
Here’s an Indigenous Mexico most travellers never get to see. On your way into the cloud forests on the Central Mexico and the Sierra Gorda trip, you’ll stop in Toliman, where a local guide will lead you through tiny family chapels the Otomi-Chichimeca people have cared for since the 16th century. Look for folk-art murals and stone crosses, then sit down to a traditional Otomi lunch made with high-desert staples like corn, cactus and maguey.
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5. Walk the land with an Indigenous guide on a Rockies adventure
Glaciers, turquoise lakes and peaks that scrape the sky: the Grand Canadian Rockies trip is mountain country at its most epic. In Whistler, slow down for We Are the Land, a walk created exclusively for Intrepid and led by Talaysay Campo, the Gen Z co-founder of Talaysay Tours and a member of the Shishalh and Skwxwu7mesh Nations. Breathe in the cedar on Lost Lake Trail as she points out the forest’s pantry and medicine cabinet, then gather by the lake to reflect on what you’ve shared over a cup of her family’s homemade tea.
6. Craft eco-prints with Dusun women in Borneo
Picture the kids, holding up fingers sticky from the flower-studded chocolates they’ve just made at DumoWongi, a herb farm beneath Mount Kinabalu on the Borneo Premium Family Holiday. Here, local Indigenous Dusun women show you how they turn leaves, petals and fabric offcuts into prints, then help you craft your own eco-print scarf; every keepsake supports the women who tend the garden. Then it’s back to the wild: searching for baby orangutans, spotting sun bears and snorkelling off Gaya Island.
Read more: Stay with nomadic reindeer herders in Mongolia’s remote forest
7. Meet the Sami and their reindeer in northern Norway
Beyond the Arctic Circle on the Northern Norway in Winter trip, warm up after dogsledding across windswept ice with a fire and hot drinks inside a lavvu, the traditional Sami tent. In Skibotn, a crossroads of cultures for centuries, a local storyteller will share the history of the semi-nomadic reindeer herders before serving up bidos, the hearty Sami national stew. Perfect fuel before a night of Northern Lights chasing.
8. Read the bush with Khwe trackers in Namibia
On the Botswana Highlights trip – which also dips into Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls and Namibia’s Caprivi region – you’ll scan for elephants from safari vehicles and dugout canoes. But if that wasn’t enough, in the Caprivi Strip, the Khwe will reveal yet another way to find wildlife: by reading the land. At their community-run Living Museum, you’ll step into a village of grass huts and learn the skills of ancient hunter-gatherer culture, from arrow-making to tracking antelope through the bush, all while helping to keep one of Namibia’s most endangered cultures alive. Afterwards, unwind on a sunset cruise along the Okavango River for more wildlife spotting.
Read more: New ways to experience Indigenous culture in the US and Canada
9. Dance and play with villagers on Indonesia’s Sumba Island
Forget watching from the sidelines on the new Sumba Island Discovery trip. In Prai Ijing Village, where towering thatched roofs rise above ancient stone tombs, locals will teach you traditional games and dances (two left feet, welcome). It’s a joyful window into daily life on a lesser-visited island, where ancestral Marapu beliefs still shape the homes. Elsewhere, try ikat weaving with a women’s social enterprise, swim in turquoise Waikuri Lagoon and watch wild sandalwood ponies roam the savannah.
10. Follow the Indigenous salmon route from Canada to Alaska
Long before borders, there were rivers and trade routes tying Canada and Alaska together. On the 16-day Wild Canada & Alaska: Vancouver to Anchorage trip, follow that thread north. Stand above the churning water of Witset Canyon as Nation Wet’suwet’en guides explain First Nation fishing sites still used today, then swap stories by the fire with Kluane hosts in the Yukon. Later, in Alaska’s Tazlina Village, an Ahtna fish wheel turns in the Copper River while salmon cure in the smokehouse. As drums close the day, you’ll be glad you took the long way.
Launch your next adventure with Intrepid’s locally led small-group trips.
