Reviews of Chitabe Lediba
(96%) From 78 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
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Great place great team great safari
We would recommend it to our best friends. The team was fantastic, including our guide BB. The food of excellent quality and ....plenty. Rooms of royal comfort.
The safari experience surpassed our expectations.
A Luxury Camp With Outstanding Game Viewing
Chitabe Lediba was the most luxurious of the 4 camps in which we stayed in Botswana, and it provided the best game viewing experience. An excellent rating does not do it justice, it was outstanding in every respect.
We landed at the airstrip at about 12:30, expecting a 30 minute drive to the camp. However, our guide (Oats) had seen some wild dog at a waterhole on his way to collect us, so we headed straight there. The dogs were relaxing under a tree, and in the tree, far from relaxed, was a leopard. Incredible! We stayed transfixed for over an hour, observing the interaction between dogs and leopard as the leopard tried to catch the dogs off guard and make her escape. It was stalemate when we eventually moved on, but the thrills did not stop there on our drive.
Within minutes we were parked adjacent to two male lions that had stolen an impala kill from a cheetah. From there we moved on to a leopard in a tree, who was joined by her cub as we watched. By now it was mid-afternoon, and Oats arranged for food to be brought out to us as watched the leopard and her cub interact. And so it went on, until eventually, at around 19:30, having just witnessed wild dogs scattering a large herd of impala, we arrived at the lodge. We realise that we were exceptionally fortunate to have had such a drive, but what we really appreciated was that throughout that time the sole objective of our guide and the staff at the lodge was to maximise our enjoyment. That attention to our enjoyment remained throughout our two day stay.
That first game drive was a very hard act to follow, but the quality of the drives remained exceptionally high throughout our two day stay with plentiful lion sightings (including a mating pair), more leopard sightings with cubs, and a spectacular spotted hyena sighting with a mother interacting with two pups, one of which was not her own. Bird sightings were also excellent, especially water birds.
Our accommodation was spacious, comfortable and tastefully fitted out, with high quality bed linen and towels. The common areas were also comfortable and well appointed. The staff were exceptionally friendly, efficient and helpful.
We were able to charge camera batteries in our room.
Fabulous Game Viewing at Chitabe
Excellent tented camp. Very well appointed and glamorous tents.
Service from Maolosi and his team was excellent. The team joined in at meal times which provided great insights into life at the Camp and Botswana in general. Our guide OD was tremendous, our favourite of the trip.
We experienced fabulous game viewing, the best of the trip for us. We had the opportunity to watch the behaviour of predators up close and there was lots of big game, smaller game and birds.
Excellent camp loved OD our guide
This camp was lovely and very clean. OD our guide was fantastic!
Read more about the whole safariChitabe Lediba review
We loved this camp. It was great, all the staff was great, we had a lovely couple from Germany who were with us for three days. We all had a terrific time.
Amazing game drives - lions, leopard cubs, and cheetah successful hunt. It can't get any better than this.
Cheetah kill at Chitabe Lediba
For our third safari we returned to a luxury camp. We stayed in Chalet 1 which had an outside shower with a wonderful view.
This was our first taste of driving through deep water and we had an expert driver and guide in Oats. On our second day we got the call to say 4 cheetahs had been spotted. It was a mother and 3 two-year-old cubs hunting. Watching the cubs chasing their prey was amazing. They were too impatient and their would-be victim always managed to escape. Eventually the mother brought down a young impala and Oats was there for the kill. We spent most of the day with them. Lunch was brought out to us in the bush.
There were other special moments....two-month-old leopard twins playing together; newborn giraffe; three adult lions (brothers) hunting; three 14-month-old lion cubs; getting stuck in the muddy water and having to jack up our Land Rover at front and back.
The weather was very cold and on our last morning we had a significant frost. Hot water bottles were needed for afternoon and morning game drives.
Chitabe Lediba review
This camp is just FANTASTIC. Everything was perfect and it is the best camp of the 6 we had by this point visited over 2 trips.
Nothing was too much trouble and every staff member went out of their way to make our stay memorable. We hope to visit again.
Lediba
After a short flight we landed at the Chitabe airstrip where our guide, OD, greeted us and drove us to the lodge. OD was a very congenial person with a huge in depth knowledge of the animals and fauna of the area. He was constantly on the look out for tracks on the trails and always scanning the surroundings for signs of animals. The manager, a heavy-set jovial Botwanian with an ever-present grin, greeted us at the camp.
Our 'tents' looked into the brush and were large and very confortable. We spent most of our drives looking for the Cheetah that had been spotted the morning we arrived. During our drives we saw tsessebe, impala, jackal, a variety of birds and a large baboon tribe feeding on the palm nuts and the amarula fruit. During the night time drives Ode spotted a bush baby, a small monkey with huge eyes, and a genet, a cat like mammal with a small head, a catlike body, and a large puffy tail. He also spotted a couple of mongoose.
The animal life at Lediba appeared to be less dense than that a Lebala and Lagoon. The staff at Lediba bent over backwards to make our stay memorable. The wind curtains were all drawn during the day and replaced for the night and all equipment worked. The food was simple but very tasty & the cook had an excellent way with the condiments. At the end of the last dinner, the jovial manager brought out a bottle of South African bubbly and toasted us on our 45th anniversary - a nice touch.
Lediba will be remembered as the place where the Cheetah was not found, the excellent guide Ode, the jovial manager, and the 'over the top'friendly professional staff.
Wonderful wildlife a surprise at every turn.
A busy camp with a fast pace and the concession which had more big animals and numerous sightings than our other two camps. However this does not mean it was the best as our guide Gordon, although very experienced and knowledgeable, seemed a little jaded to the whole process and didn't seem as wrapped up in our enthusiasm.
The staff were all excellent and the evening of traditional food, dancing and singing was a real highlight.
Chitabe Lediba - Visit Two
After our last visit to Chitabe Lediba we commented that it seemed more like a reserve for the main camp than a lodge in its own right. This time there was no hint of little brother and we absolutely loved our time there.
All the staff, from the managers to housekeepers were always smiling, friendly and clearly bent on making our stay completely memorable. They succeeded. The game drives were first rate largely due to the skills and hard work of our guide OD. If it was there to be seen we saw it. The highlights were a feast of birds, 2 pairs of mating lions, leopard writ large and no less than 5 cheetah.
To top it off we had the most amazing sighting of a family of dwarf mongoose that posed like professionals. The food was good and the rooms huge and well equipped. This is a camp to keep going back to. All credit to the managers Kay and Six. Marvellous.
