Reviews of Lebala Camp

"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

"Because of the re-scheduling of our visit to Lagoon, our first camp was Lebala. This is in a dry region of the delta (at the time of our visit in early September) The camp is pleasant, but fairly basic; we understand it is one of the oldest camps in the group.

The staff were great, the food was generally very good, and the guide and tracker were a delight. We were very keen to see wild dogs, but we were told there had been no sightings for a fortnight. And despite the efforts of our guide, we failed to find them. But this was more than made up for by the wildlife we did see.

There is no doubt, these guys were skilled trackers and the off-road experience was truly amazing." See all these reviews: 11n in Botswana

"Lebala camp was incredible.

Our guide, Mr. G, and tracker, KB were fantastic. They were enthusiastic to get started with game drives right away, the first one starting when we were picked up from the airplane.

Their knowledge of birds and mammals brought great insight into the interactions of species.

We weren't only looking for the big 5, but they also took our request to see other smaller animals into consideration during the game drives. Mr. G's passion for photography was evident in our travel photos.

The camp accommodated our request for vegan meals and kindly held the vegan dishes aside until we arrived. The meals were pleasant and well executed and the vegan dishes were clearly labeled.

The cabin was cozy, comfortable, but also chilly at night - pack some warm jammies." See all these reviews: 6n in Botswana; 1n in South Africa

"Guiding was excellent at this camp even though there was lower water this year.

There happen to be a Wild Dog den with puppies that we were able to visit. Birding was great.

Mayezi, our guide, knows his birds and was happy to point them out in between sightings of lions, aardwolf, honey badger, elephants, giraffes and zebra. We had stunning looks of Ground Hornbills. Near the river were Red Lechwe leaping across marshy grasslands, crocodiles sunning themselves and hippo. All great sightings." See all these reviews: 7n in Botswana

"The guide and tracker worked so very hard for us.

We had the best ever night safari seeing new ( for us) mammals--Aardwolf and Serval.

The camp is comfortable and friendly.

We were VERY satisfied with our stay." See all these reviews: 8n in Botswana