THE LODGE & ACCOMMODATION

The lodge features twelve luxurious thatched and glass-fronted suites with en-suite bathrooms, each unit raised on a wooden platform. 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 Nxaipanand Baines Baobabs (three night stay only).

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.

Xugana Island Lodge

Xugana Lagoon Okavango Delta

Xugana Lagoon is widely recognised as the most spectacular permanent water site in the entire Okavango Delta, which itself is Africa’s largest and most awe-inspiring oasis. The Okavango River rises in the highlands of Angola yet never reaches the sea; instead its immense waters empty over the sands of the Kalahari, where the great thirst of the desert is quenched in a wilderness of freshwater lagoons, channels and islands.

THE LODGE

Xugana Island Lodge is situated on a private concession and takes full advantage of this magnificent site. An expansive deck and al fresco dining area overlooks the vast, pristine body of water that makes up the permanent Okavango Delta.

The lounge, bar and dining areas are set back under the Ebony and African Mangosteen tree canopy in open-sided thatched structures, and the swimming pool, located within the mature gardens in the centre of the island, is a perfect place to relax.

ACTIVITIES & WILDLIFE SIGHTINGS

Xugana Island Lodge is in a private concession offering a range of activities giving you the chance to experience a true Okavango Delta safari. All activities are conducted by experienced professional guides. Explore the crystal-clear waterways by mokoro (traditional dugout canoe) or motorboat for the chance to enjoy the magnificent variety of bird, plant and reptile species found in the area.

Your experienced guide will also take you on a guided nature walk on surrounding islands in the concession, giving you the chance to experience nature up close and personal. Day and night game drives are also available within the private concession for a chance to search for the prolific wildlife found in the area.

Savute Safari Lodge Chobe National Park

Stretching from the Linyanti River all the way to Savute Marsh, the winding waterways of the Savute Channel have pumped life into the western section of Chobe National Park for many thousands of generations. However, this fickle and unpredictable channel, which has a fascinating history of flooding and drying up, independently of good rainy seasons and flood levels elsewhere, has mystified local inhabitants, geologists and others for many years.

THE UNEXPLAINED

When David Livingstone, the first European to visit the area, saw the Savute Channel in 1851 it was flowing. Thirty years later it had disappeared and the Savute Marsh had dried out, remaining this way for almost 80 years. It flowed again from the late 1950s to the early 1980s, when it again receded, hence its reputation as ‘the river that flows in both directions’.

In 2009, after another extended hiatus, the channel began flowing again and by January 2010 had spilled into the Savute Marsh for the first time in three decades, but for how long – no one knows ...

ACCOMMODATION & THE LODGE

To ensure a private and relaxing environment, Savute Safari Lodge accommodates just twenty four guests in eleven thatched chalets built of local timber and one family room which consists of two double bedrooms. The chalets, which have been elegantly furnished in calm neutral tones to blend with the natural environment, feature expansive private decks, a combined bedroom and lounge area and en suite facilities.

Sink into one of the numerous comfortable wood or wicker sofas in the lounge – and library – or sip a cocktail in the stylish bar. All these facilities are situated in a beautiful two-storey thatch-and-timber main building. Savute Safari Lodge offers a shaded viewing deck, an al fresco dining area and swimming pool with spectacular pool loungers – ideal for watching the varied wildlife – including the resident Elephants – as they make their way to the Channel to drink, bathe and play.

ACTIVITIES

Activities are organised around game drives throughout the Savute area in open 4x4 safari vehicles. Many trips will incorporate a visit to the Savute Marsh to give you a chance to see the historic presence of the Savute Channel at the marsh against a backdrop of teeming wildlife. Guests can also enjoy a visit to the ancient San rock paintings at Gubatsa Hills – a small hilly outcrop which forms a prominent landmark in the otherwise flat landscape.

Savute boasts the second-largest summer Zebra migration in Africa; its timing is determined by the rains, but usually occurs between November and December and again between February and April, when the Zebras move from the rivers in the north in search of the rain- ripe grasslands and full waterholes in the southwest of the park. The migration is always followed by large numbers of predators – the Zebra migration is a must for visitors.

A Contribution from this safari will be made to Botswana Rhino Relocation and Reintroduction Project.