"The Hualapai Nation originally lived on two million hectares. Its 2100 members now have a reservation of 400,000ha that includes 160km of the Colorado River and south rim of the Grand Canyon.

It owns and operates Grand Canyon West, a commercial tourist operation whose facilities include the much-hyped Skywalk, a vertigo-inducing horseshoe-shaped, glass viewing platform jutting out 1430m above the canyon floor and popular with tour groups from Las Vegas, three hours by road or 30 minutes by helicopter to the west.

We spot helicopters everywhere as we prepare to beach at the end of our river trip. I count 12 in view as they ferry tourists from Las Vegas to the Hualapai's own heliport and airport on the canyon rim, and deposit others on the riverbank for brief boat trips on the river.

It's a sophisticated operation, with its own air traffic control system, one far removed from the tranquillity we've just experienced."

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Captured by the Colorado (The Otago Daily Times 11/1)