Want to learn Cajun cuisine at a cooking school in New Orleans? Or explore Indigenous culture from a Navajo guide in Arizona? Intrepid has a range of USA trips that amplify and celebrate Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) perspectives in the United States.
Travel is about more than just the places we visit, it’s also about the people who shape these places and call them home. It’s about the people who carry their stories, tradition and culture from one generation to the next. Across the USA, you’ll find Intrepid has many experiences and trips that are led by or partner with BIPOC guides, hosts and businesses.
Read on to see where you can learn directly from the people who know these traditions and places best.
1. Learn to cook Cajun food at Deelightful Roux School of Cooking
There is exactly one cooking school in New Orleans owned by an African American woman, and it’s Deelightful Roux. When it comes to learning Cajun and Creole food, there’s no place better. Your host and guru is culinary star Dwynesha Lavigne, a New Orleans local and award-winning baker, who also hosts a weekly food segment on TV. On the Tennessee Music Trail to New Orleans, you can try your hand at cooking jambalaya, okra and tomatoes, Cajun gumbo and New Orleans’ famous banana foster.
2. Visit the Alaska Native Heritage Center with a guide
Most travellers are drawn to Alaska for its rugged landscapes and incredible wildlife, which is why Intrepid will of course bring you on a glacier cruise through Kenai Fjords and to explore Denali National Park. While you might be sorely tempted to only visit Alaska for the scenery, on Intrepid’s Best of Alaska, you’ll have a chance to visit Alaska Native Heritage Center for a private visit with a local guide. Through traditional dwellings, dance, storytelling and engaging exhibits, you’ll learn about the Indigenous cultures that have shaped Alaska for generations.
3. Support the Navajo community in Arizona
Canyon de Chelly isn’t somewhere you can fully visit on your own, which makes for an exciting and uncommon experience. To explore the canyon floor, you have to join a local Navajo guide to help ensure cultural preservation while supporting the Navajo community. On the Southwest USA Canyons & Cultures trip, you’ll venture into the red rock canyons of Arizona to hear traditional stories and see ancient Ancestral Puebloan ruins like the famous White House Ruins, while also gaining insight into contemporary Navajo life in the canyon.
Read more: Meet the Navajo guides of Canyon de Chelly
4. Explore West African history along the Gullah Geechee Corridor
The Gullah Geechee people are descendants of West and Central Africans who were enslaved on the rice and cotton plantations around Charleston, St. Helena Island, Beaufort and Savannah. Today, the community continues to celebrate their roots with by speaking the Gullah language, practicing traditions like sweetgrass basket weaving and cooking Lowcountry dishes like red rice, shrimp and grits which can be traced back to West Africa. On the Southern Heritage: Charleston to Nashville, you’ll join a local guide at Penn Centre which is at the heart of the culture of the Gullah Geechee people.
Read more: 5 ways Intrepid’s new Women’s Expeditions are making positive change
5. Connect with Utah’s Indigenous cultures
Hike through the red rock landscapes of Utah’s Mighty 5 national parks, then venture off to Monument Valley and Bears Ears National Monument. On Intrepid’s Hiking Utah’s National Parks, you’ll travel south to Bluff, stopping on the way for a guided hike in Bears Ears with an expert Navajo guide. You’ll learn about native plants and wildlife, the geology and archaeological sites, while your guide shares Indigenous stories and tells you about the area and the Navajo people who have called this place home for generations.
6. Take a Black history tour in Charleston, South Carolina
Join an expert guide to go beyond landmarks and learn about the people who actually shaped it: Black builders, enslaved people, artisans and free Black residents. Visitors on the Southern Heritage: Charleston to Nashville trip can listen to the oral histories of South Carolina, including local folktales, stories of the Reconstruction and hear first-hand about the people often missing from the history books.
Ready to hit the road? Explore Intrepid’s trips in the USA
