Day 82 Royal Tree Lodge, Maun

Amusing scene on the river this morning as the farmers were gathering their cows along the river bank.  The majority were obedient but ten decided the grass looked much nicer on the other side of the river in the park and so swam across the river.  We told one of the guides at the lodge who went across in his boat to persuade the cows that they didn’t want to be lion lunch! However, no sooner had the guide turned his back (having got them to return to the correct bank), than they set off swimming back to the park and had to be shoo'ed back again by the boat.

Short drive back to Maun for a bit of shopping and cake stop, then on to the Royal Tree Lodge.  The lodge is very swish set in a private reserve and caused us a few problems finding the entrance gate. We followed the signed which took us to a large padlocked gate so we assumed that we had gone to the wrong entrance.  After another 30 minutes of driving down sandy tracks we decided that the padlocked gate must be correct so headed back.  Luckily there was a phone number for the lodge and they provided us with the code for the padlock - they told us they are keen to stop unscheduled guests but it nearly stopped the scheduled ones too!

Having seen two snakes yesterday, I was rather hoping not to see any more but instead I had a very close encounter with one!!  I was walking along a path and suddenly felt something round my legs.  It all happened very quickly but I realised that I actually had a snake wrapped around both legs, managed to step out of its coil and leg it down the path without any harm being done – not sure who was more shocked me or the snake as it disappeared rapidly into the undergrowth.

Hoping for less of an adrenaline rush for the rest of the day by lazing by the pool and drinking beer.