Maun, Botswana and Leroo La Tau - Days 1 and 2

The Lion's Paw

This is not so much a blog as it is a recount of the most memorable impressions and images of a most fantastic adventure.  It will be light on details and heavy on pics.

We arrived in Botswana in early July of 2014, following a long, long trek from Vancouver and an overnight at an airport hotel in Jo'burg.

The trip had been over a year in the planning and I had never, EVER, been as excited as I was that day.  Walking onto the tarmac at the Maun airport there was an interminable lineup of tiny bush planes, and one of them was waiting for us! In fact, this was to be only the first of several flights aboard Safari Air we would take over the following 10 days. 

Blake and Jessica had their moments of panic as the little plane bounced around on its way to our first camp, I was just giddy with happiness.

Leroo La Tau

The Boteti river stopped flowing in the late 80s and by the end of the 90s it had completely dried up.  Two decades later, following record rainfall in the Okavango Delta, the river began to flow once again.  Leroo La Tau (Lion's Paw) is perfectly perched on a cliff along the riverbed, every thatched cabin affording an awesome view of the wildlife coming down for a drink.

The zebra migration was in full swing and we had front row seats from our deck, zebras and gnus often running together.  There was an incredible abundance and variety of game and within the first few hours we'd seen hippos, elephants and giraffes, the ubiquitous impala (affectionately referred to as the McDonalds of Africa), emus and many, many more species.

Breakneck game drives, exhilarating boat rides zooming past the hippo pool and awesome sundowners at Leroo will stay in our memories forever.

Daily Sundowner

Our cabin seen from the river below

Young impala at play

Another sundowner :)

Zebra down for their afternoon drink

Gnu

Giraffe having a drink, watching each other's backs

A local village

Village kids on a Sunday afternoon

We visited a local school and got to see the facilities and deliver a few gifts for the kids and talk to the principal

Hippo Pool and a big hippo smile

Loved the safari trucks, we asked our guide to take the top off on ours, he happily complied :)

African sunsets are out of this world

Watchful zebras

The first elephant we saw at Leroo

Pool and lounge area with a view to the river

Hide on the riverbank from which to quietly observe the wildlife

After two amazing days and nights alive with stories by the fire and delicious meals cooked by the ever smiling staff (we had the camp mostly to ourselves) we said good bye and hopped on another bush plane headed for the Okavango Delta.