Reviews of Kwara Camp
Wildlife sightings and reviews
236 independent comments and wildlife information from our travellers who have visited Kwara Camp and kindly agreed to share their thoughts. They do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa
97% success
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98% success
97% success
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"good variety of activities"
I had similar activity observations here - guides were slightly unprofessional and the activities seemed so structured and left no room for flexibility. We were not asked if we wanted to mokoro - we were told which morning it would be done. We weren't asked about the sunset cruise to the rookery - we were just taken to the boat. It just wasn't the flexible, "what should we do today" attitude I was used to - and valued most - from Kwando.
During our stay at Kwara we came across a large male cheetah warming up and getting moving for the day. We had a lovely time with him as he rolled on the grass and got up to start the day. He marked a couple of spots and then climbed a tree to watch a herd of impala nearby. As he was climbing down and starting a stalk, we were told we needed to move along to make room for another vehicle. I was gobsmacked. I've never left an active cheetah hunt before and I never expect to do so again. In the end he was unsuccessful, but that hardly matters.
Another time we were notified by another vehicle of some mating lions. We arrived late in the morning to find them snoozing, and the other vehicle left when we arrived. The guide asked if we were ready to leave after just a few moments. I asked him how often they mate, and the guide said about every hour. I asked how long it had been since they last mated, and the guide said, "about an hour." I asked for 10 more minutes and sure enough we had a spectacular sighting. He seemed very anxious to get back to the lodge, and indeed the others were finishing up brunch when we arrived, but we didn't come to Botswana for brunch. It was just another example of misplaced priorities in my opinion.
On the boat ride, we were told that we needed to be off the water by dark since it was inside the national park - and thats completely fine. (No reason guests need to know that - just do it.) But then the "night drive" was 20 minutes from the dock to camp with no detours. The whole point of a private concession is driving at night, and I found overall - at both Kwando camps, that the night drives were essentially just the trip back to camp from sun downers. So much so that all the vehicles were all on the same road again, 70 meters apart, and arrived at camp at the same time. We had so little time driving at night at Kwando camps that we didn't see any nocturnal wildlife (saving the 2 big cat sightings we had at sundown.) We never saw genet, civet, bush baby, small cats, bat eared fox or porcupine with Kwando. Try to imagine how little time you must spend in a private concession in Botswana at night without seeing at least ONE of the above. It was shocking.
One other incident that I noticed to illustrate the point - and I don't know which of the Kwando camps this was - may have been Lebala - was that after we left a leopard sighting and were on our way to a sun downer spot 30 minutes away, the tracker and guide essentially gave up. The tracker stayed in the front seat chatting with the driver and didn't return to the jump seat for a 30 minute drive to a dam. Not a big thing if it was an isolated incident, but this was definitely a pattern." See all these reviews: 9n in Botswana; 5n in South Africa; 2n in Zimbabwe
We would like to thank this guest for her very positive comments regarding the camp staff at Kwara and will certainly pass on her appreciation to the team.
Again, we are sorry to hear that Kwando’s usual flexibility was not made obvious and will definitely follow up with the team at Kwara about this that they should consult the guests more as to which activities that they want to do on a given day. We have spoken to the guide at Kwara and he could not recall the guests preferring a different arrangement to the plan that he suggested. It would be useful to know if this concern was raised at all with the camp management at the time, or if the guests requested alternative activities/itinerary at any stage.
We have spoken to the guide, Chester and he did recall the male cheetah sighting. We are sorry that your client felt frustrated at being asked to leave. Chester said that they stayed with the cheetah for approximately 30 minutes and at the time, it was the only cheetah located in the concession. We do operate a three vehicle rule to ensure that the wildlife is not harassed and the only way to manage this in a fair way so that all guests have equal opportunity to see the key predator species is for guides to give way to one another after allowing a reasonable amount of time at the sighting. On this occasion, Chester has already informed the other guide that he could come into the sighting when the cheetah started to move; it was unfortunate timing, but to have stayed would have prevented other guests having their chance to see the animal which would equally have frustrated them. (Lucy, as an aside, there were 8 vehicles operating in the concession at the time, so the guides did need to be mindful of the time spent so that all guests could enjoy the sighting)
With regards to the mating lions, Chester said that he did remember checking with the guests if they wanted to leave since not all guests have the patience to wait for snoozing lions to spring into action. We are pleased that in this instance the guests were happy to wait, the guide accommodated their wishes and that ultimately they were rewarded with an excellent sighting. Although the guests were late back for brunch, it seems that in this situation we did offer the flexibility that this guest was looking for.
Chester agreed that the drive back from the boat activity was not a true night drive. The route back includes some deep water crossings and thus the vehicles do go together to ensure that all vehicles are safely through before it gets dark. However what he should have done after the crossings is to check whether these guests wanted to then extend their night drive and continue to look for smaller nocturnal mammals. He sincerely apologises that he did not do this and that they found the night drives in general to be lacking.
Feedback about the guide and tracker essentially giving up after a leopard sighting and heading to the sun downer spot is unusual – usually the tracker only stays in the front seat during a sighting with a potentially dangerous animal and then reverts back to the tracker seat. We need to do some further follow up with the guides further to ask why this happened, but are very sorry that the guests felt that the team were not committed to finding game during that period of the drive.
Again, it is pleasing to see that the overall experience at Kwara was rated as good and that many aspects of the guest’s stay were rated as “Excellent”
Lucy, we are very sorry that your client had concerns regarding some aspects of our activities and would ask you to please pass on our sincere apologies that she did not feel that the overall guiding service was of the same standard that she enjoyed on her previous stay. We would like to thank her for her valued feedback and have already spoken to our guide coordinator to ensure that the points that she has raised are addressed with the specific guides in question, but also at a broader level across all camps to ensure that Kwando continues to consistently deliver a high quality of guiding and flexible approach.
"Senior Africa Specialist | Southern Africa & Seychelles"
"Kwara Camp review"
"Kwara Camp review"
Our guide Jacob and tracker Goms were both excellent. Jacob looked after us extremely well throughout our stay. He and Goms were very knowledgeable and made an excellent team as they worked together to ensure that we had many wonderful wildlife encounters. Their tracking skills were amazing - we saw a large number of animals, birds, and reptiles. We thoroughly enjoyed the two water excursions they took us on - one on a boat and one on a mokoro.
A great place to stay." See all these reviews: 9n in Botswana
"Kwara Camp review"
The elephant grass growth was too high to allow walking, thus drives dominated activities. Possibly due to guest pressure, a mornings Mokoro tour was arranged using all 5 canoes, and by moving access point a boat trip through the delta in Moremi NP was arranged. Both were very enjoyable, although animal sightings were infrequent.
Whilst the animals were well spread out reasonable sightings were had, but the variety of birds was very good throughout.
We were told bird spotting was a minority pursuit but it was a great time to see them. In fact we would say that the green season was not for new Africa hands. The guides were exceptionally informative and knowledgeable. However for us the drives were too long and without sufficient break time for sundowners etc. The spotlight drives were very perfunctory given the vegetation.
As recognised by a forthcoming refurbishment the tents were old fashioned poorly positioned and with very inadequate plumbing." See all these reviews: 7n in Botswana
Activities in the green season are often quite different to the dry season - in that guided walks do depend on the grass levels and visibility, game drives can be delayed or cut short because of rain, and water activities all depend on water levels and whether or not there is enough shallow water around in a safe area to allow for mokoro activities, and enough deep water to allow to boat activities.
With regards to the tents and their refurbishment... we're anxiously awaiting news on this. Watch this space!
"Senior Africa Specialist | Southern Africa & Seychelles"
"Kwara Camp review"
The area was just beautiful and lush, and we did see a pack a wild dogs as a bonus. Other game was somewhat hard to find, our guide worked really hard to track cheetahs and lions with limited results, though.
We did have a leopard kill an impala about 20 feet from our tent, though!" See all these reviews: 10n in Botswana; 2n in Zimbabwe
"Kwara Camp Review"
Going there, we were somewhat apprehensive as some people we had met in the previous camps (and other Trip Advisor comments) let us to believe that it was going to be rather run down. This was reinforced by the fact that it was considerable cheaper than the Lagoon and Lebala camps (all part of the Kwando group).
In fact, it turned out that this was probably the best camp we stayed at - certainly from a value-for-money perspective.
The location was really good, right on the edge of the delta close the the Moremi Reserve, so a great mix of water and land based activities. The camp itself overlooked a large lagoon with elephants wandering about (often into the camp). Also, there was a family of baboons living in the camp itself and a hoard of Impala also wandering about throughout the day, making things always lively and interesting.
Our guide and tracker were particularly excellent and worked really really hard to give us a great experience, tracking down cheetah, loads of lions, wild dogs on the hunt, elephants having a mud bath, etc etc.
The rooms were probably the most basic of the 7 camps we visited, but more than adequate, and the food was a similar standard (good) as all of the other sites.
We would certainly recommend this camp." See all these reviews: 10n in Botswana; 4n in Zambia
"Wonderful Kwara Camp"
The staff were friendly and helpful but a special mention must be made of our outstanding guide, Dux, and our excellent tracker, AT, who together provided us with some exceptional game drives. It was wonderful to see how they worked together to read the animal tracks, deciding on the animals' movements and deciding where to go next.
Thanks to their skills we were provided with some fantastic sightings including wild dogs on a kill, a pride of two lionesses and four cubs who were extremely hungry one day but the next replete having killed and consumed most of a zebra and a cheetah stalking a reedbuck." See all these reviews: 12n in Botswana
"In the bush"
After a long day of transport to camp, felt some sort of welcome drink/snack should have been offered...everyone showed up hungry and had to wait two hours before afternoon snacks were offered.
Felt our guide who was friendly and knowledgeable spent much more time in conversation with the tracker than informing us what was taking place. Common complaint in our vehicle." See all these reviews: 3n in Botswana; 2n in Zambia
"Kwara Camp review"
The Kwara concession is a large area with mixed sightings for us. We had some drives where we saw good range of animals and others where it was much quieter and not even many impalas. When asked when we arrived we asked to see the large cats. The guide and tracker mostly talked with each other and occasionally we would get explanations from the guide. When we asked question the answers were factual but not elaborate. This meant we were not always sure what they were tracking and sometimes it led to nothing which we understand is the nature of a drive but the guide could have still made the drive more engaging and interesting. During dinner another jeep guests were openly discussing asking for their guide to be changed for the next day.
For a fairly expensive camp the service was average or sometimes below. No one asked us what type of food we like and drinks was self service from a fridge. At other camps, we only had to look and someone would be there to ask what we would like. The tents are on stilts and made of canvas. The facilities are dated. There were holes in the canvas where clearly insects could get in.
After one night, another couple who arrived on the same flight as us were moved to lagoon room as a number of guests had departed. We were not asked if we wished to move.
The makoro (wooden canoe) morning across the lagoon to an island was a lovely experience and this was the only time we felt the guide was engaging and explained many interesting things about plants, animal droppings and termite mounds.
2 days would have been sufficient at this camp." See all these reviews: 8n in Botswana; 2n in Zimbabwe
Kwara Camp is Kwando Safaris oldest camp, and as we say on our website it is simpler than most camps and fairly traditional in style. Being an older camp it does have some more wear and tear, but this does not excuse issues that are easily fixed like holes in the canvas. Kwando has said they are sincerely sorry about this. They do have daily checks on the rooms that should have revealed the holes, and they have done a walk through since to identify and fix them.
Five of the eight rooms at Kwara face the lagoon. The other three tents are a little way from the lagoon, but have elevated views of the floodplain towards the lagoon. The Kwara Camp Manager explained that during your stay, unfortunately there were not two lagoon-view rooms available to be able to move the four of you to.
We passed your comments on to your guide and he does acknowledge that you expressed an interest in cats. However, he also said that the other couple in your vehicle expressed an interest in all aspects of safari since it was their first safari. The guide does try to accommodate all interests and the camp report that you saw lion and cheetah during your stay. Kwando Safaris have an ongoing training programme and a guide trainer, and as a result of your feedback, he has spent some time going over your constructive comments with your guide.
"Kwara Camp review"
Sleeping right beside elephants, hienas, hippos... Watching baby hienas of only few days, a family of cheetahs putting down and eating an impala, a couple of leopards (we saw four leopards in only three days!)...
What an experience!!!!" See all these reviews: 3n in Botswana; 2n in Zimbabwe
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