Seasonality

• Green season: 10 January – 31 March
• Shoulder season: 01 April – 31 May | 01 November – 19 December
• High season: 01 June – 30 June | 01 September – 31 October | 20 December – 09 January
• Peak season: 01 July – 31 August

This 250-hectare private nature reserve is where your Botswana adventure begins (or ends). Thamo Telele offers so many exciting activities, from giraffe encounters, nature walks, culture tours, bike rides and horse rides to mokoro trips… there is so much here to see and do.

Meet our Giraffe…

Let’s start with the giraffe experience at Thamo Telele to get you giraffing! One of the most fascinating things about the lodge is its resident herd of 20 giraffe, which you can observe while on activities in the reserve and most enthralling get up close and personal to in the morning and evening while they feed at the waterhole. There are naturalists on hand, who will be able to tell you all about these fascinating animals.

Learn each giraffes Setswana name, and how to identify them by their unique spots. There are identification books in the main lodge and at the waterhole so that you can work out who’s who. Put on your walking shoes or jump on a horse and come and hang with the giraffe. This is a very special experience and one that we at Thamo Telele are particularly excited about!

Birding

Over 300 species of birds have been sighted in and around Thamo Telele, at peak season. Our summer from October to March is the best time with both Palaearctic and Intra-African migrants. Keen birders should be able to see at least 50 – 70 species in a day and have the opportunity to add new species to the lodge’s bird sighting list. The record thus far is 130 species in a 24 hour period!

Nature Walks

Our well-marked nature trails allow our guests the opportunity to safely explore our private reserve while stretching your legs after or before a long flight while taking in the wonder of our wooded forest and diverse grasslands. The reserve is free of predators but abundant in bird life and plains game.

Nature Trail Bike Ride

Choose an early morning or afternoon bike ride on our nature trails. Offering off-road fat tire safari bikes & biking helmets for individuals, couples, or families with children. Choose guided or self-guided rides but please note that bike excursions must be booked in advance.

Horseback Safari

Professionally guided horse rides on our private reserve are exhilarating. These beautiful well-behaved horses will enable you to ride amongst the plains game and get very close to view giraffe and zebra.

Culture Tour

Experience Botswana beyond wildlife and go on a cultural tour of the safari town of Maun. You’ll get great insight into the rich history and culture here, as well as see, touch, smell, taste and enjoy the richness of life in this vibrant little place.

Volunteer during your time in Botswana

Thamo Telele has a full-time partnership with the non-profit work of the locally based NGO, Love Botswana. This local trust operates more than 20 community-based programs for children, youth and adults. For many people, visiting or volunteering at Love Botswana’s many community-based programs in Maun has created some of the most memorable moments of their trip to Africa. www.lovebotswana.org.

Located at the Southern-eastern edge of the Okavango Delta, the meandering waters of the Thamalakane River maneuver their way through the frontier town of Maun, the gateway to northern Botswana and the last stop before the Okavango Delta. A life source to this buzzing little safari town, as the river ebbs and flows throughout the year to the beat of its own drum, its banks overflow with an abundance of bird, plant life and wildlife to bring a renewed energy to the area and water relief to the Maun locals.

There have been over 300 species of birds spotted here. This is a great place for bush birds like warblers, owls (pearl spotted and white faced) and is the only place in Maun where you’ll see oxpeckers.

Set amongst a lush forest of leadwood and acacia trees, Thamo Telele, is the perfect hideaway for guests needing to spend a few nights close to Maun. Set in a 250-hectare private reserve on the banks of the Thamalakane river, an area packed with plains game, ideal habitats of river, riverine and dry savannah. A hot spot for bird lovers and wildlife enthusiasts – you’ll be spoilt for choice when it comes to all you can see and do here.

Thamo Telele, previously known as Royal Tree Lodge, is now managed by Natural Selection and recently underwent a refurbishment. During the period of refurbishment in late 2021 a female giraffe was born on the reserve. She was very tall at birth and was soon called Thamo Telele which means ‘long neck’ in Setswana. As we observed her grow day-by-day, Thamo Telele captured our hearts in such a profound way, that we decided to rename our ‘new’ lodge after her.

Jerry and Jana Lackey are the stewards of Thamo Telele Private Reserve. They came to Botswana in 1986 to pursue their calling and founded the Love Botswana Outreach Mission. This organisation has grown tremendously in scope and reach, launching over 30 life-changing programs, creating jobs and sustainable programs designed to better lives in the community and the Ngamiland and Okavango districts of Botswana, becoming one of the largest non-profits in the country.

Thamo Telele Private Reserve is a sustainability partner for the work of Love Botswana.