Leroo La Tau

THE LODGE & ACCOMMODATION

The lodge features twelve luxurious thatched and glass-fronted suites with en-suite bathrooms, each unit raised on a wooden platform overlooking the Boteti River Valley below. With the lodges unique location poised on the edge of the Boteti River enjoying the zebra migration and abundant wildlife that access the river is possible from various vantage points including the guest rooms.

The main lounge and dining area, with its inviting wooden and thatch finish, allows you to relax at the bar while listening to the wide variety of night sounds so characteristic of the African bush. Alternatively you can lounge around the swimming pool or enjoy the panoramic river vista from the game-viewing hide built into the bank of the river.

ACTIVITIES & WILDLIFE SIGHTINGS

The lodge offers guided game drives in the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park focusing on the exceptional wildlife sightings along the Boteti River. Depending on the water level, boat activities are also provided. Optional cultural excursions can be arranged to Khumaga Village as well as day trips to Nxai pan and Baines Baobabs (three-night stay only). For those looking for a truly unique experience, enjoy a sleep out under the stars on the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans (three-night stay).

Leroo La Tau translates as ‘lion’s paw’ but, although the surrounding area features abundant Lion, Zebra and Wildebeest, it also boasts Chobe Bushbuck, Leopard, Cheetah, Brown and Spotted Hyena, Impala, Kudu, Jackal, Porcupine, Genet and Caracal, to name but a few.

Please note: Owing to their remote location within the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, the Makgadikgadi Pans themselves are not visited on daily scheduled activities from Leroo La Tau.

A UNIQUE HISTORY

The Boteti River is the main outflow of the Okavango Delta, collecting the water that flows past Maun and stretching about 250 kilometres southeast to Lake Xau on the extreme south-western edge of the great Makgadikgadi salt pans.

In the mid-1980s the flood waters of the Okavango Delta started to decline as the region entered a cycle of low rainfall, and consequently the Boteti River began to recede. The river stopped short of Leroo La Tau in 1988, and by the mid-1990s had dried up completely.

Leroo La Tau was left with a few waterholes in the riverbed which continued to offer refuge to a small pod of landlocked Hippo, together with Crocodiles which became completely terrestrial, making dens in riverbank ‘caves’ downriver from the lodge. Large numbers of Zebra and Wildebeest continued to graze the rich grass plains, migrating to the Boteti River at the end of winter to access the remaining waterholes.

In 2009, two decades after the Boteti River stopped flowing, record rainfall resulted in the highest Okavango flood levels for 25 years, and the river once again flows past Leroo La Tau.

Leroo La Tau is built on cliffs over 10 metres above this changing riparian environment, offering a vantage point that ensures unsurpassed views of the river and the Makgadikgadi Pans to the east.