Stephen was our guide. He showed us around the back country of his Tribal Nation lands. He was very informative and gave us a clear insight into what it's like to live on the reservation. He is very proud of his people and a wonderful ambassador. The names of all the Monuments was quite interesting as well as the movies that have been made in the Valley. He also told us the story of the Code Talkers of WWII. If you plan to visit Monument Valley, make sure you take the tour into the back country. Stephen also played his personal song on a wooden flute. It was well worth it.
By chance, we were the only 2 on this trip. You really do go 'off-road' and it is an awesome landscape. Our guide was reasonably knowledgeable but rather weary I felt.
My wife and I drove from Flagstaff for a 9:00 am guided tour in an open four-wheel drive. We were fortunate that we only had two others on our tour, making it a more personal and comfortable experience than had a capacity load of sixteen or so been on board.
Our anticipation of what to expect were high, but were exceeded. Our native American guide, Harry, lead us through some truly spectacular scenery, stopping for a number of photo opportunities along the way. His knowledge of the area and history of the native American way of life there were invaluable. He also had a great laid back sense of humour. The only negative was that we had some difficulty hearing the narrative through the speaker at times when we were on the move due to the wind.
Would highly recommend this style of tour, but would advise a morning tour in summer.