Reviews of Lebala Camp

"Although not far from Lagoon, the terrain at Lebala was interestingly different.
The cheetah we saw were the same brothers from Lagoon.

All the camp staff and our guide, George and our tracker, Peach, were attentive and knowledgeable" See all these reviews: 12n in Botswana

"The camp was almost empty. First night 4, second night 3, third night 4, fourth night 2. Despite this the staff were charming and attentive.

As you know we had problems with Da's visa but Prudence could not have been more helpful. The guide (George) and the tracker (Joe) had to work really hard because there was only one vehicle underway in the area. They were great and found leopard on two days and cheetah after much hard work. If I remember correctly it was 3 leapord and 2 cheetah plus all the normal things.

It was extremely hot, 40°C on the first couple of days but a thunder storm cooled things down a bit. The pilot for the flight in with Morami air was great but the plane is a little small for those of a larger stature. I called it the chicken coop. After Da arrived they made a special dinner on the last night. Wonderful.

The only criticism I have is that the downtime in the middle of the day is very long 11:30 am until 4pm. This applies to all camps. I understand the reasoning but perhaps something can be arranged to fill in some of this time." See all these reviews: 12n in Botswana

"Intimate and very friendly camp, the lagoon in front of the camp was dry, which was a shame, it didn't stop lions making an impala kill in camp during the day!" See all these reviews: 11n in Botswana

"Elephants everywhere! This included a large herd with young of all sizes who walked past the end of camp and ate from those bushes every afternoon during our siesta time. We were in the last two tents and watching the elephants in the afternoon was fabulous. Our first evening at Lebala, our fabulous guide and tracker, Myazie and Joe, led us to another elephant herd digging roots from the dry ground. Watching the moms teach the babies how to dig the roots while dust swirled in the air and the sun set on the horizon is one of the many experiences at Lebala that felt almost too perfect to be real.

We also had many incredible lion sightings, including a female with 2 cubs, two young adult males, and an older male with an injured paw crossing a river. Other animals included ostrich, a pair of hyena pups, cheetah, white-tailed mongoose, bat-eared fox, aardwolf, eland, steenbok, wildcat, baboons, scrub hare, kudu, tseseebe, spring hare, yellow mongoose, black-backed jackal, and some incredible owls, including the giant eagle owl and the pearl-spotted owlet.

We enjoyed having the combination of the experienced guide and the tracker/guide-in-training. Both Myazie and Joe made our experience unforgettable. They constantly looked at the ground and then led us to something amazing. Their love of the environment and the wildlife was evident, as was their enthusiasm for sharing Botswana with us. We felt this same enthusiasm and pride of country from the Lebala managers and, indeed, the entire staff. The managers were attentive to every detail & always available if you needed anything.

At Lebala, you eat family style, and we appreciated having the guides and managers eat with us and teach us about their lives, the camps, and the country. The food was excellent all day long. One member of our party has a severe food allergy & another has quite a few food sensitivities. Both were handled wonderfully. Thank you!

The tents are huge. They are also colder and a bit less private than many other camps because of the mesh instead of canvas that covers some of the sides. However, we knew this ahead of time and found no difficulty staying warm. Especially since we were given hot water bottle "bush babies" at night to put in the bed. Wonderful!

Lebala was the most isolated of the camps we stayed at. This gave you the real feel of being away from everything, as we often did not see another vehicle while out on a game drive. The area has an incredible variety of terrain, from the marshes, to open land, to wooded areas, to a flowing river. We saw it all.

On our final morning at Lebala, we awoke to roaring lions ... lots of roaring, right on the edge of camp. By mid-morning, our guide and tracker had followed the paw prints of two young male lions. They'd just gotten old enough to be kicked out of the pride. Time for their independence! The tracking told us that the two brothers had opted to stay together, which meant they'd do so for life, eventually establishing their own pride together. Before having to go to the airstrip and leave, we also found the older males of the pride, resting after fulfilling their duty to chase off the younger ones. They were sunning themselves on top of a mound, literally the kings of their world. To me, they symbolize the rugged beauty that is Lebala." See all these reviews: 7n in Botswana; 2n in South Africa

"The staff at Lebala are warm, welcoming, joyful and professional, from helping guests put on ponchos before the morning game drives, to singing and dancing before dinner, to knowing guests names immediately. Food was abundant and delicious. And my tent was more than comfortable. Communal dining adds to the camaraderie. I shared a jeep with 3 lovely people. Unfortunately, our guide, although very experienced, was reticent at best, answering only some questions and volunteering a minimum of interesting information. Sightings were good." See all these reviews: 7n in Botswana; 2n in Zambia

"The Camp is in a remote area where we only ever saw our camp vehicles. So maximum of 4 vehicles.

I must make special mention of the staff at this camp, they (every one of them) was so friendly and welcoming. an example; at 06;15 Breakfast, met with smiles and on second morning they remembered how I took my coffee (a splash of milk).

This lodge is built around game drives. you can even go out again after Tea!! They seem to specialise on tracking leopards and Lions, going off road and on foot. The numbers of game were not as high a Kwara, but the tracks are mostly in good condition and a smooth'ish ride.

The Rooms are lovely, but be prepared for Game walking through the Camp; Lions, Elephants, etc. No internet. All drinks are free with a good selection. Food excellent.
We had no incidents of biting bugs/mosquitos - June" See all these reviews: 8n in Botswana; 4n in Namibia

"We did not have any sightings from our porches as we did at the other camps, and at first glance, the area looks very dry with lots of high grass. There are plenty of waterholes and a channel, though, but we had to leave camp to see them.

The rooms were the coldest we had, because the sides are basically mesh all around, including bathroom/toilet. Probably great in the heat of summer, but it was really drafty in winter. There are no blinds of any kind to help with the breeze and the cold. There is a bathtub inside, but only outside showers.

The food was good, but the 'egg station' we enjoyed at both Kwara and Lagoon for brunch was not offered consistently.

Charging station in the room worked fine, but again, no wifi yet. Lebala is the only camp which still uses generators. They will be switching to solar power later this year and are also supposed to get wifi in the process.

There are Wild Dogs around, but we did not see them and the guides are making no effort to find the den. The big pack they used to have, split up and apparently, haven't settled in one area.

We had the best Leopard sighting of our trip here. Our guide found a female Leopard early in the morning and we followed her to a tree where she'd put her kill - and Aardwolf! We watched her feed all morning and then tracked her again in the afternoon. Our patience and tenacity were rewarded when we watched her re-unite with a very young cub none of the guides had seen before!" See all these reviews: 10n in Botswana

"A very friendly welcome to this camp and the staff were great throughout. The food was fabulous and there was a great choice for veggies.

The only downside to this camp was the tents had mesh sides, with flimsy curtains. It was quite windy when we were there and it was very cold at night, despite the hot water bottles provided. You had to grit your teeth to get up in the morning!

We were so lucky to have Elvis and Leo as our guide and tracker. The wildlife was not as abundant as at Splash camp, but we still had some great sightings, including bat eared foxes, African wildcat and aardwolf.

This was a very different experience in terms of animal sightingsecve" See all these reviews: 10n in Botswana

"This was our second visit to this camp, and once again, we were happy to have Elvis as our guide for the second time. Two and a half years ago, this camp was all about mating lions, but this time we were rewarded by an experience that we won’t forget (more on that further below).

Like all Kwando camps, they use a guide/driver plus a tracker who sits in front high above the hood of the car. It has been our experience that this approach often makes a difference when it comes to finding predators. And it needs to be said: None of these camps are cheap, but they are considerably less than those run by Wilderness.

Now, we did see lions here, as well as elephants, tons of giraffes and Red Lechwe antelopes jumping through the rivers and waterways. We also came across the rather rarely seen Sable antelopes. In addition, towards sunset we met the two cheetahs again we saw at Lagoon. This time, they were still lazing around, but at least they posed high on a termite mound.

But a life-punctuating experience was our encounter with two leopards (father and son, I will call them Junior and Senior). As everybody who has been to Africa knows, leopards are very shy and elusive, so they are difficult to find and see. Thus, to see one leopard is almost always a highlight of any safari. But to see two at the same time is exceptional.

Elvis and Hakim (our tracker) found their tracks just shortly after embarking on our morning game drive. We eventually spotted them 2 km away from camp, hiding in dense bushes, about 30 m apart. They were growling and not looking very happy. Our guides explained that they were arguing about their territory.

We watched these two for three and a half hours, starting at around 7 AM. They started walking slowly in parallel, increasing the distance between each other for about 90 min. Then something changed their minds, and they kept walking in parallel but now decreasing the distance between each other. During all of this they sat or lay down numerous times to think about what to do next, or so it seemed. After about three hours, I had them both in one frame. Now they were almost running when, all of a sudden they attacked each other. What followed was a brutal fight of almost a quarter of an hour.

For most of the time it looked lke Junior would have the upper hand, but eventually Senior turned the tables and towered over his son, who lay there defeated. We were literally shaking for fears that one of them would die. But, as it turned out, both of them were wounded, but not seriously. According to Elvis their injuries would heal quickly. He told us that if lions were caught up in a fight like this it would be much more brutal and probably end fatal for one of the combatants, but leopards, being solitary, are more hesitant to cause or receive serious injuries, because that would increase the risk of starving to death.

To summarize, I think we witnessed something that even very few professional photographers or filmmakers get to see during their lifetime. We have to thank our dedicated guide and tracker for finding these two cats in almost impassable terrain." See all these reviews: 12n in Zimbabwe; 11n in Botswana

"Lebala provided four very good and different lion sightings over two days, including a close encounter with a not very observant sable antelope, a lion on a morning stroll, a pride on an evening hunt, and the same pride resting in the bush. The latter requiring excellent tracking from our guide Thabo and tracker Akim. Thanks to them we also had a memorable sighting of a serval and, briefly, a honey badger.

When we visited it was generally dry, with few patches of water in the area, and it was very hot. The chalet tent was well appointed and comfortable but faced into the mid-day sun so could have done with better shade to the outdoor deck sitting area.

The staff were friendly and helpful, especially when one of us succumbed to a short period of (probably) heat exhaustion on a morning drive: arranging for a phone conversation with a helpful doctor who prescribed tablets that did the trick – everything fine the next day.

Good choice of excellent food." See all these reviews: 10n in Botswana