Reviews of Lagoon Camp

"Lagoon Camp was our first location on our 8 night visit to Botswana with Kwando Safaris and proved to be an excellent start to our safari. We spent three nights there in early November. The camp uses large tents located directly along the edge of a lagoon with a beautiful view of the lagoon from the tent. Although the tents were relatively close together such that you could easily hear your neighbor they otherwise felt quite private.

Our guide and tracker were both excellent and game viewing was superb with exciting lion, elephant and especially wild dog sightings during our stay. Our guide Alson (I hope that I am spelling that correctly!) was extremely knowledgeable and really proved he knew his wildlife in finding the wild dogs while our tracker Baruti had amazing skill in spotting game, especially at night. He even spotted a chameleon at night high in a tree even though it was doing its best to look like just another leaf! In addition to game drives there is the option to take a relaxing river cruise which was a nice change of pace and highly recommended if available.

Food and service was excellent during our stay and I liked how the guide and guests from each vehicle sat together at dinner so that we could discuss the day's events and plan for the following day. There was still plenty of opportunity to mingle with the other guests as it is not a large camp.

The camp has a most welcome plunge pool for the mid afternoon break and a beautiful deck overlooking the lagoon where one afternoon a pied kingfisher spent the afternoon entertaining us with a fish he had caught that was nearly as big as he was! He would try to swallow it and then smack it on a large tree branch as he apparently was trying to break it into smaller portions. This went on over the deck only a few feet away as he seemed completely unconcerned with the audience he was attracting. I still don't know if he ever succeeded in swallowing his prize!" See all these reviews: 8n in Botswana

"Very good trackers adn guide with extremeyl god viewings but one has to be prepared fro lots of sand adn bumping.

Dinners weer good but teh breakfast/lunch was indifferetn with limited choice and once sandwiches only as we weer laet back" See all these reviews: 10n in Zambia; 6n in Botswana

"Finally found the wild dogs. 2 different packs both with cubs.

The wildlife here is probably the most prolific in all the areas visited.

As with all the camps the staff cannot be prasied to highly." See all these reviews: 13n in Botswana

"Lagoon Camp must be the place to Wild Dogs in Africa. We saw three different packs and some astonishing behaviour - including a face-off with a herd of Elephants. Amazing stuff and I have seen Wild Dogs after almost twenty years of trying." See all these reviews: 7n in Botswana

"Nice small camp set amongst riverside woodland where the guides try their best to show you what you want to see.

The highlight here is the chance to see wild dog. We were not disappointed with two sightings. Alson our guide was knowledgeable and could not have tried harder to track the wild dogs for us.

They also do night drives here so that more nocturnal animals can be found such as spotted hyena and springhare. There are plenty of wildebeest, antelope, zebra and giraffe too.

No game on the menu :-(." See all these reviews: 8n in Botswana; 2n in Zambia

"We spent three nights at Lagoon camp, but time has a way of stretching out and you are made to feel so much at home and part of the life of the camp that it really felt like much longer (in a good way!).

The tents are not as smart as those at Lebala, but they are nonethless perfectly lovely, with verandahs looking out onto the river and the plains beyond and very comfortable interiors.

The staff at the camp were hospitable, enthusiastic, friendly and courteous. Phoebe, the camp manager, has a very informal, friendly and relaxed style which resonates throughout the entire place so that you feel as though you are being welcomed into a family rather than staying at a hotel. OB also deserves a special mention for the great hospitality she extended to us.

The guides here are second to none - highly knowledgeable and able to track, identify and explain all the animals, birds and plantlife you are likely to come across. Our guide, Vundi, and tracker, Thsebo, found some incredible wildlife sightings including a pack of wild dogs (which we followed for over an hour) and a leaopard snoozing up a tree in the darkness. On our last day Pat, another driver, and James, the tracker, spotted lion tracks which we followed until we came across a female lion with four young cubs - a truly wonderful sighting.

Sadly, the resident pack of wild dogs had not been seen for some weeks before we arrived - they had left the area following a lion attack on one of the 13 cubs. However, there are others that pass though, which we were lucky enough to see, and on our last day a driver (Alison) told us he had seen tracks of a pack with puppies near the Mopani forest - he was intending to go back and try to follow the tracks, so there is some hope that the original pack might still pass through even if it doesn't set up a den within the concession again.

The great thing about the Kwando reserve is that there is such a limited number of guests and vehicles. The area feels very remote and untouched, and you are unlikely to see another vehicle all day unless there is an exciting sighting. In that case, there is a rule that no more than three vehicles can view animals at a time. So it never feels crowded and overrun with game viewers as is often the case in other places. There is also an overwhelming sense of respect and admiration for the flora and fauna from the staff, which adds to the overall positive experience of staying at the camp." See all these reviews: 5n in Botswana

"Definitely the friendliest place we stayed, and that's saying a lot. The staff made us feel like we were part of the family, or more accurately, part of their gang. They had a fantastic sense of humour, individually and collectively. The other guests were great too, we all got on like old friends and had long nights round the campfire chatting (that was the only downside – we got hardly any sleep as we were voluntarily) getting up really early too!).

The organisation was marvellous – it all felt really easy-going and relaxed, but everything happened just when we wanted it too, and with flair.

We were also amazed by the skill of our guide Pat, not just in finding animals and getting really close to them, but also in bush mechanics – effecting a seemingly impossible repair to a Uri transmission with minimal tools while 50 yards from a pride of lions. And joking while he did it! He was also really good company, and very well informed on a really wide range of issues." See all these reviews: 19n in Namibia; 6n in Botswana; 2n in Zambia

"Very short drive from airstrip to camp was fantastic after a long flight. Very friendly camp, especially Charlie the manager, enjoyable food around a big table and a great camp fire, including a lovely song at the beginning of the meal.

Unfortunately, the wild dogs which been regularly sighted had moved dens due to a puppy being taken by a lion but the search for the new den seemed to dominate all activities. Also, the guiding was diaappointing as our guide had only just moved to this camp and seemed to rely heavily on the tracker for directions. One day, the game drive was just a transfer of other guests with limited time to stop and watch the game.

Unusually,we didn't see any predators during our stay although we do realise that this not guaranteed, we felt that the guide could have given us more general information to maintain our interest. However, we styill enjoyed our stay at this camp as it is a great location." See all these reviews: 6n in Botswana; 5n in Namibia

"This was our only stay in Botswana and was probably the main highlight of the holiday. We saw things here that we may never see again.

A pack of wild dogs where the adults came back from a kill to feed 12 six week old pups!!!

A lioness with 4 cubs attack and fight off a 4 year old male lion!!

The same lioness killed a baby buffalo separated from its mother!!!

A herd of circa500 buffalo surrounded us.

We would unreservedly recommend this to anyone" See all these reviews: 16n in Namibia; 3n in Botswana

"A really well run camp with excellent staff members all of whom had a great sense of humour!

At the time of our visit the riverboat was out of action which was very dissappointing.

If it had not been for the quality of the guide (George) and tracker (Barouti) it is arguable that the gamedrives may have become slightly repetitive." See all these reviews: 11n in Namibia; 6n in Botswana; 1n in Zambia