Sandrine Morris was born and raised in Maun. She spent several years as cabin crew flying out of London before the family came home in 2021, and by early 2022 she and Sam had broken ground on a riverfront plot high above the Thamalakane. The first guests arrived in 2024. Twelve rooms, and the two of them still own the place.
Hippos grunt in the river pools below the lawn at dusk.
Crocodiles bask on the sand opposite, and an elephant occasionally picks its way down to the water. Hippos grunt in the river pools below the lawn at dusk. Grays Eden was conceived for the nights either side of a Delta stay, and the schedule stays loose: breakfast runs until ten, and no one is woken for a game drive. Guests are met at the airport, ten minutes away, and collected again ahead of the flight into the Delta.
An old quarry face rises behind the hotel. The pool is cut directly into the cliff face, high above the river. It runs twelve metres, and a level down in the same stone the wine cellar stays cool enough for tastings and for dinner at a table underground. The Eden Kitchen changes its menu around Botswana’s sun-ripened local produce, with a few lower tables closer to the water for a more casual meal.
The pool is cut directly into the cliff face, high above the river.
Sandrine wanted clean Mediterranean lines, not the dark wood and canvas of a Delta lodge: whitewashed walls under thatch, arched openings between bedroom and bathroom, blue-and-white tiling, wicker and light timber. Leadwoods and raintrees shade the lawns down to the bank. The two-room spa is by the river, and treatments can also be brought to the villas.
The five villas are the larger of the two styles, three facing the river and two set back into the garden. Each has a thatched roof and high ceilings, an open fireplace and a veranda deep enough to sit out a hot afternoon. Extra-king beds stand under mosquito nets, arches lead through to roll-top baths and walk-in showers, and the palette holds to blue and white. The seven Fisherman’s Cottages are smaller and brighter, with king beds, ensuite bathrooms and verandas looking onto the lawns or the water. Three villas convert to twins, and either style takes a child’s bedroll or cot.
Meals move at the guests’ own pace, and no clock is imposed on them. Breakfast is long, lunch sits in the middle of the day, and dinner is served early enough to leave the evening to the firepit on the riverbank. The head chef’s menu turns over regularly, holding to Botswana’s local produce alongside more familiar dishes. A picnic basket can be packed for the lawns, or dinner carried out to a villa veranda instead. Sundowners are taken on the terrace, and digestifs by the fire on the bank afterwards.
A picnic basket can be packed for the lawns, or dinner carried out to a villa veranda instead
The town is the jumping-off point for the Delta, and the flying is half the pleasure. Doors-off helicopters lift out of Maun and the Delta’s lagoons and floodplains open below. The flights take in the conservation areas as well, compressing what would otherwise be a long road journey into a short hop above the water. Closer to home, boat trips run on the Thamalakane. A three-hour tour of the town, hosted by local residents, takes in traditional dishes, basket weavers and the craft markets.
On the outskirts of town, Elephant Havens Wildlife Foundation hand-rears orphaned elephants for eventual return to the wild, and private visits can be arranged in support of the work. The Maun tour is run with Travel for Impact, which pays the local hosts, cooks and basket weavers directly. Materials for the build were sourced in Maun and the surrounding area. Around forty staff come from the area, with numbers rising toward sixty as the hotel reaches full operation.
accommodation
Twelve rooms in two styles: five thatched villas (three river-facing, two garden-facing) with extra-king beds, open fireplaces, roll-top baths and covered verandas, and seven smaller Fisherman's Cottages with king beds, ensuite bathrooms and verandas. Three villas convert to twins; both take a child's bedroll or cot. Nets, fans and wifi throughout.
activities
Swimming in the cliff-set pool, wine tastings and private dinners in the rock-carved wine cellar, spa treatments by the river or in-villa, and evenings at the riverbank firepit. Off site: doors-off helicopter flights over the Okavango Delta, visits to Elephant Havens, boat trips on the Thamalakane, and a cultural tour of Maun hosted by local residents.
conservation
Elephant Havens Wildlife Foundation rescues and hand-rears orphaned elephants for eventual return to the wild; Grays Eden arranges private guest visits in support of the work. The Maun cultural tour is run with Travel for Impact, paying local hosts, cooks and basket weavers directly. Around forty staff are drawn from the surrounding area, with numbers rising toward sixty as the hotel reaches full operation.
Get in touch and let’s start the conversation. An initial consultation helps us understand what you’re looking for, whether that’s specific experiences, luxury touches, or marking a special occasion, and from there we’ll guide you through what’s possible so you can decide if we’re the right fit.
By road from Maun airport, and it is a short one: the hotel puts the drive at ten minutes, an independent report allows twenty, and either way its driver is waiting at the terminal. Maun takes nonstop scheduled flights from Johannesburg, around two hours in the air, from Cape Town, about two and a half, and from Gaborone, so most guests are out of the airport and by the pool with the same afternoon still to spend. The meet and greet and the return transfer are both inside the hotel's rate rather than charged on top, and there is no air leg to the hotel, so there is nothing further to arrange.
The same airport is where the light aircraft into the Delta leave from, and the hotel times the drive back to that flight for you. Those aircraft take soft bags only, twenty kilograms a person including hand luggage, so it is worth packing to that from the start rather than repacking on the veranda the night before.
Yes. Maun sits in the northern half of Botswana, which TravelHealthPro, the UK's official travel health service, classes as high risk for malaria from October to May, listing antimalarial tablets among its recommendations for those months, and as low risk from June to September, when it advises awareness and bite avoidance. The CDC names Ngamiland, the district around Maun, among the parts of the country for which it recommends prescription medicine to prevent malaria.
We are travel planners, not medical professionals, so the decision rests with you and your doctor or a travel clinic, and it deserves a check close to departure because the advice is reviewed. In practice the beds are netted and the rooms have fans, and the evenings are spent on the lawn and at the firepit above the water, so long sleeves and repellent from sundown are the sensible habit whatever you decide.
Yes, at any age. The hotel takes children of all ages with no minimum for the stay, cots and a rollaway bed can be set up in the rooms, and with a little notice the kitchen will do children's meals and an early dinner so the adults can eat later in peace. There are no family rooms as such, but three of the villas convert to twins, so tell us the ages and how you want to sleep and we will hold the right combination.
Two things to weigh. The grounds run down to the Thamalakane, with hippos in the pools below the lawn and crocodiles on the far bank, and the pool is cut into the cliff above the river, so younger children need a parent's eye on them outside. And a stay here is a rest rather than a safari, with no game drives, so a child who wants animals every hour will be happier once you fly into the Delta; the visit to the elephant orphanage outside town is the one outing here that is about animals.
Two seasons. The rains fall between November and March, heaviest in January, as short, hard evening storms after hot days, and by April the sky clears for a dry winter that runs to October. June and July are the cold months, with a morning by the water that can dip close to freezing before the day climbs to the mid-twenties, and the open fireplaces in the rooms earn their keep. September warms up and October is the hottest month of the year, with afternoons around thirty-seven degrees and the first rain arriving late in the month.
Pack a warm layer for winter evenings at the firepit, a light rain jacket between November and March, a hat and strong sun protection all year, and swimwear for the cliff pool. Everything should fit in a soft bag of twenty kilograms, hand luggage included, because that is the limit on the light aircraft into the Delta, and the hotel has a laundry service if you want to arrive at camp with clean clothes.
One night either side of the Delta is the usual pattern, and it is enough for what the hotel is for: a long breakfast, the pool, dinner by the river and a proper sleep before or after the camps. Give it two if the elephant orphanage or the town tour appeals, because both are booked as excursions and a single night rarely leaves room for them.
The rate is bed and breakfast, and it includes the meet and greet at Maun airport, the return road transfers, tea and coffee in the room, wifi and the taxes. Lunch and dinner are ordered from the menu and charged separately, as are picnics on the lawn, the bar and wine list, spa treatments and laundry, and the excursions and the helicopter flight over the Delta are priced on top and booked ahead. The restaurant is small, so we book your dinner along with the room, and every extra you choose appears as its own line in the quote.
Both, and they are good. Wifi runs through the whole hotel and into every room at no charge, and there is a strong mobile signal on the property, which makes this the last reliable connection before the Delta, where the camps' wifi is patchy and the phone network gives out.
So use the night here for the things that need a real connection: online check-in for the flight home, downloading maps, books and films, and the calls you will not be able to make from camp. If someone in your party has to stay reachable through the safari, tell us before we book the camps rather than after.
rated five stars by our clients
our approach
Every journey starts with a conversation. We take the time to understand your vision before we start planning.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape something that is considered, personal, and expertly delivered.
