Dineh Bekeyah Tours — Local services in Oljato-Monument Valley

Unfortunately this did not turn out as expected.

Firstly I was traveling from Page and had booked the 3 pm 2.5 hour tour. I was following page time but when I called them they said they are one hour ahead. So I told them that my GPS puts me at 3:20 pm and since I was targeting Page time I would have been there at 2:20 pm but just realized based on what they said that it would be 3:20 pm and tour would have left. The email confirmation unfortunately does not clearly spell this out. They said they will try to accommodate.

When I reached there, for the next 30 minutes along with my wife and two kids I was running from left to right and right to left trying to find the location where they would pick up. Their email confirmation says loading area located west of the hotel. However it does not say if it is West when you are looking at the hotel or West when you stand with your back against the hotel. There is a sign board I finally found which said Navajo tours but nowhere on the email it said that. They give longitude and latitude position for GPS but there is no phone signal in the area. So neither could I use the GPS on my phone, nor call them.

I then rushed into the hotel and asked to use their phone. I spoke to someone who said they will put me on the 4 pm sunset tour which is expected to last 3 hours. So I waited at the above location. One tour guide showed up and lo and behold he told me the sunset tour departed at 3:30 pm and he will try to catch us up with them. We got in and after some time met up with the other tour group. We continued on the tour. 30 pct of the way into the tour the vehicle got stuck in sand and couldn't get out. The driver made the mistake of not putting the vehicle in 4x4 mode. So asked us to get down and walk to the next view point. We couldn't do that with kids and so stayed by the area. What was surprising was the driver's cell phone had no signal and nor did he have a radio. Some other your stopped by and called in the owner to send another truck to help rescue the one stuck in the sand. And the other thing noticed was for a tour that operates in such harsh environments the truck neither had a pull cord, nor a shovel. This seems very unprofessional. After waiting for 40 mts, another truck came and rescued us out.

By then everyone was tired and did not want to continue on the tour and we even asked the driver not to stop at the next two spots. For the spots that we did stop by and see it was good. But this overall was not a positive experience and I would not recommend...

Upper & Lower Antelope Canyon tour.

Every aspect of tour was excellent. The transportation van with Tom was on time and the travel time was filled by his excellent narrative on Navajo culture and canyon information. Tom handed us off to Nat who was our guide to the lower Antelope Canyon. He made an incredibly beautiful tour even more fun. Joking and kidding, but his assistance helping all 10 people in our group with there Smart Phone camera settings was great. He knew far more about how to get the best results from our cameras than we did. We never felt rushed, and we all got as many photos as we wanted. He cued people through the canyon so that your shots were empty of others. Back to the transportation van and Tom. He took us to a rest area, where we took a short break before driving on to the Upper Antelope Canyon. ( suggestion; ask Tom for details about the old wooden wagon there) It's an authentic old horse drawn wagon, thats of the same type he used to ride in as a child. I was curious, and he turned a simple question into the most amazing first hand lesson on how it was used. A rest pause turned into a very memorable part of the tour. Tom handed us off to Frank who was our guide to the Upper Antelope Canyon. Again, DINEH Tours gave us an excellent guide. Tom seamlessly picked-up where Nat had left off, making sure we were all getting the best photos we could. Taking as many shots of us as we wanted. Ours was the noonish time slot which gave us the privilege of witnessing the light beams entering the Canyon. Frank help maximize the effect by tossing fine dust into the beams. It was all just absolutely beautiful. Every turn is a breathtaking photo. In summary: I would give this DINEH Tours group effort a A++ . A most enjoyable day. Highly, Highly recommended. Thank You DINEH and thank you Tom,...

My family and I had one of the best experience of our lives ! Joseph, our guide, was so kind and knowledgeable and made the whole experience perfect. We got to explore the part of the loop drive accessible to everybody with a car (so it’s good if you wanted to do it but aren’t sure about going with your own car / doable but bumpy and you have to be extra careful), but mostly we were in the restricted areas and the back country. We paid for the 2,5 hour tour but were put on the 3,5 hour one. It was so nice of them and time flew by so we are so grateful for it !

The highlights were :

seeing wild horses (including a couple of days old baby) ; visiting a traditional Hogan and getting my hair done in a traditional bun by the most lovely lady (sadly I cannot remember her name but I will never forget her) ; seeing arches (that you cannot see on your own on the loop drive) and laying down on the rock to listen to Joe singing a traditional celebration Navajo song ; having our picture taken by Joe who showed us all the tricks for cool pictures on our phones ; and of course learning more about the Native American people and their culture is beyond interesting !

After coming twice to Monument Valley before, it felt way more genuine to get to see more of this amazing place. I had already done the loop drive with my own car before and even though the scenery is already great on its own, having a local guide is a game changer. I have no words to express how much I love Monument Valley and the Navajo people and their culture, and Dineh Bekeyah Tours (Joe) did a great job at making me love it even more ! We will be back for the overnight tour and cannot wait !...