Reviews of Lebala Camp

3nights at Lebala

Vundi was fascinating, and highly knowledgeable. When he started talking of a kingfisher having two foveas, I knew we had someone with an encyclopaedia to pass on to us.

Whenever we weren't finding something to watch, he would stop and tell us about something of the ecology, or termite mounds or trees or birds or something that enriched what we were seeing. We again saw all sorts of wonderful animals.

The food again was great - I do not know how they cook so well in what must be difficult circumstances, and as for how well our washing was done and returned all beautiful - much better than I manage.

Excellent camp- good but not top safari

Well managed, friendly staff excellent facilities.

But as at Lagoon feeling that you fit into Kwando routine rather than individual experience. Guides very friendly and knowledgeable but again focus on big things rather than making all sightings an event. If stopped then guides very willing to explain but needed to be stopped again next time. Improved after we talked to Management about this.

Realise Guests put lot of pressure on Guides for "big things" but need to be sensitive to all clients interests. Kwando need to work on this.

The death of an warthog

The five days spent in Kwara and Lebala were the highlight of our trip. The abundance of the wildlife, the trips on truck, boat, mekoro and the walking safaris were excellent. Our guide and trackers, Donald and Name in Kwara, Hector and Muate in Lebala - deserve to be mentioned especially.

The food and all services were outstanding.

We saw many lions (3 lionesses and eight cubs in Lebala), plenty of buffalos, wildebeast, different antilopes, countless elephants, a leopard and our favorite - the warthog. The most spectacular event was also a little sad for us - the lionesses killing a warthog in Lebala.

The camps which you recommended at Kwara and Lebala were both fantastic. Exactly as you described as ''lacking the chic of CCAfrica'' but very comfortable with good food and very high standards of game viewing. We had a great time at both camps with great staff and great game viewing. Our guides (Steve at Kwara and Vundi at Lebala) were first class in all respects.

The 'tents' at Kwara are new and very smart, whilst at Lebala they are older and a bit tatty in comparison.

The only slight hesitation with Kwando is that all camps seem to serve the same meals on the same day each week. so anyone doing 3 or 4 Kwando camps would spot this. The food was always good and more than enough, so it is a very minor issue meant to be constructive.

A luxurious camp

This camp has a brilliant set up with friendly and personable staff, good food and a lovely setting. There was a good communal feel to the camp and meal times were fun and social.

We thought our guide did us well on game viewing despite not appearing to be the most informative and outgoing there. However the Americans that we shared our drives with made some complaints about the guide and were slightly difficult to get along with. However we saw the local group of 4 male lions, various antelope, some birdlife and also tracked and followed a male lion calling to his friend. Although we did see a couple of elephant herds 20-30 strong, I was disappointed not to see the larger herds that I had read about on these open grass lands.

Our tent verandah was below a sausage tree which had previously dropped a fruit that had torn the canvass canopy and broken the timber deck. Sitting on the verandah during siesta time could therefore have been more relaxing had the canvas been repaired!