Reviews of Lagoon Camp

"Lagoon Camp's location on the river was amazing. The hippos were so loud at night that they kept us up (which for us was a good thing!).

Our guides were the best of all three camps we visited. Their knowledge, understanding, and enthusiasm made our time at Lagoon unbelievable." See all these reviews: 9n in Botswana; 1n in South Africa

"In 2016, on our first trip to Africa, we stayed at Little Kwara Camp in the Okavango Delta, and we have been big fans of Kwando Safaris ever since. Back then, Kwando owned just 6 camps in Botswana, and as a result of merging with another company and also opening genuinely new camps of their own there are now 12 camps with No. 13 to be opened this summer.

Anyway, given our affection for Kwando, we decided to visit three of their camps this year, starting with Lagoon. Like Lebala (see next section), this camp is located in the vast Kwando concession just north of the Okavango Delta. Like Lebala, this camp is at or near the Kwando River, which forms the border to Namibia and its Mudumu and Nkasa & Rupara National Parks.

The room they gave us a Lagoon was spectacular, very spacious and furnished in classic safari style, with a nice view overlooking the Kwando River. Around mid day, several elephants would show up to drink. On one afternoon, a lioness visited the camp as well and inspected our tent very carefully. Unfortunately, I was out on a game drive, but my wife who skipped this one, told me all about it.

On the first game drive we only saw two giraffes, and I thought this was probably the most boring game drive we ever had. Anyway, things started to get much better after this initial disappointment. We had several encounters with two resident male lions who roamed the area and occasionally roared during the night. They were named Golden Boy and Rrabelante (Mr. Belt, because at one point he wore a radio collar). On one morning, Golden Boy was lying 3 m from our vehicle and started roaring. My wife made a video of him and then played it back. Rrabelante who was sleeping 15 m away from the car was alerted to the roaring lion, got up, tried to locate the roaring lion and looked at us in the car. But our guide Stan told Ingrid immediately to stop playing back the video. But this enabled me to get some stunning photographs of the irritated lion in a nice perspective.

Other than that, we saw two cheetah brothers, but they were just lazing around, and on the last morning when Stan, our guide, drove us towards Lebala Camp, we met the lioness again who visited our tent, and she was cavorting with Golden Boy, less then a kilometer from the camp. Due to the early morning light I was able to shoot some beautiful pictures.

It should be mentioned that Lagoon Camp has a reputation for reliable wild dog sightings, but on this visit they were nowhere to be seen.

Our guide Stan could give amazing and fascinating lectures about the wildlife as well as trees and plants, and he didn’t appear to be lecturing." See all these reviews: 12n in Zimbabwe; 11n in Botswana

"I have been to Lagoon several times.

The water levels were exceptionally low for this time of year, but game sightings, both predator and general game, were still good.

The team are as friendly and welcoming as ever." See all these reviews: 11n in Botswana

"I do not have time to write an overview. However I was VERY pleased with ALL 3 of Kwando's camps and would recommend them to anyone." See all these reviews: 6n in Botswana

"The staff were excellent, courteous and efficient.

The game team were very knowledgable. There was less water in the lagoon as rains from Angola had been poor. This did reduce the volume and breadth of game we saw despite the best efforts of the team. The night drives revealed some unusual species.

Accommodation and catering was excellent." See all these reviews: 9n in Botswana

"Lagoon has an excellent location on a channel off the Kwando River. There was enough water (in September) to attract hippos, many elephants and other animals that we were able to watch from our very comfortable tent during the midday siesta. The game drives were very eventful with highlights including two cheetah brothers; roan and sable, and rare sightings of an aardwolf and bat eared fox. Our guide, Stan was very informative, especially about the ecology of termite mounds which are a very common and interesting feature of the landscape. Thanks also to Vincent for his excellent tracking.

The staff were all friendly, welcoming and helpful. We enjoyed the well presented meals, especially our anniversary meal after the long journey from the UK." See all these reviews: 10n in Botswana

"Lagoon Camp was the first camp on our visit to Botswana. By the second day we had seen examples of almost all of the wildlife we expected to see on the entire trip! The camp itself is older than some, but the rooms are large and appointed with everything required. The outdoor deck at the entrance to the room overlooked the river and this was a great place to sit in the 'free' afternoons. A variety of animals and birds visited each day, including at one lunch time a lion dragging a kill away from the river in full view of the camp.

We joined our guide on a drive straight off the plane having flown from London overnight so we didn't see the camp until after dark but the welcome was still very special. Service was excellent and we were looked after really well by the staff. The manager realised early on that I have a disability and moved us to a room close to the main area of the camp and also arranged for this to happen at the next camp we visited. Food was good and served with many songs!

The guides and trackers are keen to find what you would like to see and this led to many off track experiences. More than at the other two camps we visited. A highlight was seeing the Sable Antelope, which I requested from our guide on day 1! Almost overtaken by seeing three Civet's during the night drives. Overall a very enjoyable stay" See all these reviews: 9n in Botswana

"Our visit to Lagoon camp had to be re-arranged owing to the loss of power beacause of a generator breakdown. And we only were able to stay 2 days rather than 3 because of a backlog of guests. But the 2 days we had there were excellent.

It was a very pleasant camp, lovely staff a super guide and tracker. The game viewing was terrific. We saw lots of leopards, lion and elephant.

A highlight was seeing a pack of wild dogs for the first time." See all these reviews: 11n in Botswana

"Lagoon Camp is in a truly spectacular setting on the river; you can watch hippos swimming and sunbathing, elephants drinking and splashing, baboons playing, lechwa grazing, and a crocodile lounging all from the balcony of your room (or from the shared pool)!

The tents were luxurious and felt more like a high-end resort suite than a tent, with a huge wall of mesh that allowed us to watch animals from the comfort of our bed or claw foot bathtub. The tent was extremely spacious and well laid-out.

Everything we ate was very tasty and there were always plenty of options for me as a vegetarian (the chef even made me an entire veg lasagna when everyone else was being served a meat one). We were served food from a variety of cuisines and never had the same meal twice.

All the camp staff were fantastic—kind and welcoming and ready to go above and beyond to ensure an amazing stay. When they found out we were on our honeymoon from another guest (we hadn’t provided that information in advance), they set up a surprise private dinner in our room on our final night, complete with a song and dance performance, a beautifully decorated table and bed, champagne, and a candlelit walkway to a bubble bath. It was super thoughtful and memorable.

The animal viewing at Lagoon Camp was fantastic. The wild dogs aren’t currently denning in the area so while the camp is known for its wild dog sightings, we were actually able to see them here, but everything else was amazing. Lots of diversity and density of animals—we saw new things every day and a lot of them! Highlights included closely following two cheetah brothers for around 30 minutes and spotting a leopard on our way to the airport.

We were less wowed by the motor boat ride in the lagoon/river and didn’t learn until later that we shouldn’t have expected to see many big animals along the way and that the hippos submerge themselves before you can get very close to them. It was very nice for a boat ride and there were lots of birds and beautiful landscapes along the way, but if you’re more interested in the big game, we’d recommend sticking to the game drives." See all these reviews: 8n in Botswana

"A truly fabulous camp with outstanding guides and trackers. We had exceptional wildlife sightings, among our best ever. We would go back in a heartbeat. The staff really made this camp feel like home and were genuinely friendly and caring. This camp was everything we were looking for." See all these reviews: 10n in Botswana