Reviews of Lebala Camp
(95%) From 168 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
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Lagoon Camp Review
This was my third stay at Lagoon. It has a beautiful location on the riverbank. Plenty of predators, but due to the dry terrain you have to work harder to find them. Personally, I don’t mind lengthy periods of tracking but first time travellers may wonder if the guide and tracker have gone off on foot to chat about the football results. All I would say is stick with it because it generally pays off.
We had some amazing lion sightings. It was only six months since I was last in the area and so many changes in lion politics!
Some nights you don’t see much on the drive back to camp, but on our last night we saw a leopard up a tree, a porcupine and a Serval all in the space of five minutes.
The staff are lovely. We were with the guide G (who is a complete legend) and the tracker Kern who is charming and has the makings of a great guide.
Great experience of Africa in a lovely settin
Very good guide and tracker, Mike and Seemo were excellent, informative and fun to be with.
The location was good, despite not being near water, and the accommodation, food, service and welcome was again very good.
Our highlight was seeing three young (2-3 months old) lion cubs chasing a honey badger. Fortunately for them they didn't catch it!
As well as the sightings mentioned below we also saw jackals, a mongoose and a bat-eared fox.
Again, despite only being there for two nights, we saw a lot of wildlife and had a great time.
Great Traditional Bush Camp
Lebala is a lovely tented camp with a traditional feel. One of us has mobility challenges, and the staff could not have been more helpful, finding ways to make it easier to get and out of the vehicle and negotiate steps and ramps within the camp.
We had a great team in our guide Bate and tracker Simo and every game drive was full of fascinating encounters. Numerous species of antelope were plentiful, plus zebra, hippo, buffalo, and giraffe. Predators included lion, leopard , wild dog and hyena.
The highlight was being able to get really close to leopards - one a large male, the other his mother - on three occasions and spend time just observing these beautiful cats.
Great time at Lebala, felt like home.
Again great staff, singing all the time, made us feel special. Esp at our last evening they performed dances and said goodbye from the hart.
At night we found little animals on our cushions as a present.
Also here a very good ranger/ guide Bate and his tracker. Good game viewing.
Nice surprise at one of the afternoon game drives was the sundowner in the bush, a bar set up in the middle of nowhere!
Very varied animals, particularly nocturnal
Much more remote than the other camps we visited - no electricity in rooms, no wifi or mobile signal, but very comfortable. Excellent food. Compared with further south, the plains were bigger and more open, so when there was a sighting you could follow it for longer rather than it go into the bush, which was good.
Game was up and down - a couple of drives produced almost nothing (not even a lion), then on a single night drive we saw lions hunt and consume a wildebeest, serval, side-striped jackal, civet and really good wildcat sightings. The following morning a dog chase, large herd of stampeding and leaping lechwe and big breeding elephant herd which let us get right in the middle.
Funny how it goes - halfway through our stay we were wondering if it was a bit of a dud, and by the end it was probably the best set of safari sightings we'd ever had.
Lebala Camp review
Wonderful. Just what we hoped for. As in other of the resorts, the guides were excellent and the animals were prolific. The food is great - and never seems to stop and the rooms are very comfortable. An outstanding experience.
Two minor issues: I think the South African wines (most of which I know well) are at the bottom of the acceptable range. I found one in a SA supermarket for R53. I think you could do better. Secondly, I hate tipping at these resorts. I don't like to spend my time with the nagging thought of what would be fair. I would far rather have the sum included in the cost and a 'no-tipping' policy brought in.
Friendly atmosphere at Lebala
Tent very cold in the morning, but it’s winter and a tent. Warm and cosy on early drive with poncho and Bush baby (hot water bottle) yes really needed! Guide made every effort to bring us close to the animals and I was pleasantly surprised at their lack of disturbance and relaxed demeanour.
Read more about the whole safariBrilliant Lebala - the highlight of our trip
Lebala was the second stop on our trip and was the highlight of our whole holiday. In terms of sightings we were incredibly fortunate to have such an action packed visit. We had some sightings of elephants in very large volumes, Lebala is known for it, but on the last morning when we were dropping off two of our vehicle companions for an earlier flight... the runway was blocked by 100+ elephants and just as they were cleared, a male lion wandered out to add a further delay to proceedings.
There were many regular camp visits from elephants... one munching on bushes beside the lunch table and when walking back to our tent after lunch, 6 surrounding our tent giving a beautiful opportunity to observe these creatures from a safe distance (but still close). If you want elephant sightings, Lebala is your camp. Excellent sightings of Hyena/Lion and Leopard plus a tense standoff between 9 Lions, 2 Buffalo and 3 manic Hyena really made Lebala perfect for us. Plenty of time was allowed for us to observe the animals with the chance to really watch their behaviour. Lebala uses both a guide and tracker.. with the tracker in place to pick up the tracks that the guide can't see. The enthusiasm of both was another highlight and we were fortunate to to be treated to a real masterclass in tracking as we found lion after over an hour of hard work by the team.
The guides here are persistent in looking for the big game but not to the exclusion of birding and balanced this perfectly. Ishmaeil and Shooes (guide and tracker) deserve special mention and were knowledgeable and very free in sharing everything they knew.
The camp staff at Lebala were welcoming and genuinely made our down time fun. As with all the other camps, the team eat with guests and we felt that the whole Lebala team were a really close knit group and, whilst working, were also clearly having great fun.
The tent was lovely with an outside shower which was perfect when returning from the morning drive. We'd suggest that Lebala is great for people who have been on safari before and also wonderful for first timers.... if you had limited time to visit Botswana we'd suggest including Lebala on your list - You really cannot better it.
This trip was for my wife's birthday and the camp put on a special treat (I will not spoil it) but it was truly so special and involved some skullduggery on the part of our guide and camp staff....
Some advice we'd give is get to know the staff, they are enthusiastic, passionate about the animals and Botswana and so generous in sharing their knowledge and experiences..... the camplife matched the game viewing and sometimes combined it. Our first trip back to our room after lunch saw us greeted by 4-5 elephants outside the front door.. a true treat to see these wonderful creatures (from a safe distance) and on the the return from the last drive on the first evening, whilst everyone else went to get changed, we grabbed a drink on the platform over the fire just a a hyena wandered in .... sniffed the flames and wandered off.
Lebala is right at the top of our list for a return
Lebala Camp review
same area as Lagoon [Ed: "Lovely camp, well sited and excellent game viewing"], but some different habitats. Good game sitings.
Read more about the whole safari
