Private Alaska Native Excursion (Cultural, Scenic Experience)

Great experience with our tour guide Meta. We learned a great ton about the history of Ketchikan, she is very knowledgeable.

Overall disappointed in my experience. I had communicated months ahead of time about our desires for our tour and about meeting early at 6:30am to begin our tour as our time in port was limited. I also provided the name of our ship and our docking information. We pulled into port a bit early and didn’t see anyone but didn’t worry about it because we were still a bit early. At 6:30 there was still no driver so I began to make phone calls and sending emails to the provider making sure we were in the right spot. At 6:50 I was finally able to reach Dan and after a bit of back and forth he recalled that we agreed to start at 6:30 and that he would be leaving shortly and that we needed to walk to dock 1 (we were at dock 4) to meet him. I told him we were at dock 4 and he gave me walking directions to dock 1 (which were wrong). It was pouring down rain so we hired an uber to pick us up and drive us to dock 1. When we arrived at dock 1 he was still not there and we waited and watched as the group tour from the same company met and drive off. Eventually Dan showed up and asked us what we wanted to do. I reminded him of our emails and renamed the list of places I wanted to visit. He took us to our first stop which was an overlook and shared a story about fishing. We then went to what I assume was Herring Cove, but we were never told the name. He shared stories about how his family harvested the plants and berries for food and medicine. He pointed out where an eagles nest was, although we didn’t see any eagles. He made a valiant attempt to find us bears, but that did not pan out either. He then took us to a waterfall which was nice. He even took pictures of my family there. But managed to cut my son out of the picture. I initially expressed interest in going to Saxman Totem Park, but was persuaded to go to Totem Bight instead for a more authentic experience. While Totem Bight was lovely and his family members helped to carve the poles there, there just wasn’t a lot present. There was a clan house and maybe 6 poles. We ran into his daughter’s tour group there and heard her tell the story of the totem meaning. I am disappointed we didn’t get to experience seeing a carver in action, which Saxman would have offered along with totems and a clan house. After that he took us to the Salmon ladder and explained the function and dropped us off at Creek Street, about 3.5 hour after our 3hr tour began. While I appreciated the extra effort to make up for the late start, it limited our time to explore the rest of the area and eat lunch before having to get back on the ship. There was also a large box of snacks in the back of the van, but at no point were we offered snacks. Throughout the tour we heard a lot about his personal life story, how his business started, his family, and their indigenous culture. Overall, we got an in depth look at Dan and his family, versus an in depth look at Ketchikan which was my goal. I could have just done the standard group tour and probably had a better experience and saved some money. For a private tour, I expected more.

Our group of 9 had a very interesting experience with Rebecca. She was really informative and answered all of our questions. Loved hearing about the intricate history of the Alaska culture and family units and seeing the Clan House. The totems were magnificent!!

The was a such a great experience to share with our family. Meta (spelling) was a great guide and local. She was so knowledgeable and immediately encouraged us to ask any questions we had about the area, Alaska, and her/the indigenous culture in Ketchikan. We saw a bear, several eagles and the beautiful Stellar’s Jay! Toured the Totem Center and learned several the stories of some of the totems plus the efforts to preserve them. Highly recommend this tour - you won’t regret it!

Great tour with Dan. I've been to Ketchikan 4 times. Dan is very knowledgeable of Alaska Native culture. He actually lives it and his children will carry on the traditions. The tour was fun and not hurried with a relaxed pace. I learned more on this tour than any other one in Ketchikan.

We delved into the native culture and cultural experience, but lacked a bit of city tour maybe, we learned a lot as a fully recommended experience

Rebecca (Holland Jáat) was a fantastic guide. She shared a lot of interesting information. We saw salmon, a bear catching a salmon, a massive waterfall and a lot of Totem poles with accompanying information. Highly recommend this private tour that is operated by a local family.

Rebecca, wow what a lovely person not only was she a fantastic tour guide she was an amazing teacher, her knowledge was nothing short of incredible, she shared so much about her own culture but the culture of the surrounding people, the tour was so amazing we even got to see a black bear fishing for Salmon, such an amazing experience, thanks so much Rebecca, Baz and Shaz the Australians 🇦🇺

Fun way to see Ketchikan. Dan has over 50 years of local knowledge. We enjoyed our morning with him.

Aweome tour. Our local tour guide, Hannah, was very knowledgeable and a pleasure to talk to. This is a must do private tour!