Reviews of Lagoon Camp

"Again, we were completely amazed by our experience at Lagoon Camp. Everything was perfect and well above our expectations." See all these reviews: 6n in Botswana

"Overall

A very well run and comfortable camp but due to certain circumstances pointed out below the game was not as plentiful as we would have hoped.

Location

Wonderful location on the edge of a lagoon of the Kwando river. Superb views. However due to certain circumstances game not as plentiful as we had expected. Reasons seem to be:

1. Concession very large and not fully developed hence animals can retreat to inaccessible areas and sightings at one end of the concession can be difficult to get to from the other end
2. Some larger animals migrate across the Kwando river into and out of Namibia where there are shooting concessions. This means they can very shy of humans
3. A three year drought and the water in the Selinda Spillway which has been dry for many years means that certain animals that used to be resident in Lagoon have moved to other concessions

Rooms

Excellent - 24/7 electricity, fans, inside and outside showers, bath tub, safe, large comfortable bed, no mosquitoes. Could have done with a little more storage space. Wonderful views across the lagoon. Hippos outside room at night.

Service

Quietly well run camp. Nothing too much trouble for staff who joined us for dinner and were great fun.

Food

As in Little Kwara good , plentiful but could become a little repetitive. Drink selection excellent.

Activities

Driving and tracking very good and as in Little Kwara drivers always prepared to go off road. We saw Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Hippo, Giraffe, Zebra, a Hyena den with very young Hyena cubs, Jackal, Ostrich with young, Marshall Eagle and many other birds. A particular feature of the concession is the resident pack of Wild Dogs which although hard to find when we did find them were fascinating.

The sunset boat trip was great and especially the colony of Carmine Bee Eaters.

Facilities

Excellent - particularly the library, pool, lounge and recharging station!" See all these reviews: 9n in Botswana; 2n in Zambia

"Thuso and his deputy Obi were very involved seeing that the guests had a good experience. For instance Thuso arranged for a private safari the next morning when we had been disappointed in not seeing the carmine bee eaters at their nests.

Our guide Bali and his tracker Julius were good and we had good sightings of leopards and wild dogs." See all these reviews: 6n in Botswana; 3n in Namibia

"The vehicles were boneshakers and the roads were horrendous. Please see separate email and attachment." See all these reviews: 10n in Botswana; 1n in South Africa

"This was our last camp. Left waiting at the airstrip for 45 mins to be met, very hot!! Jeep with no roof and no means of attaching one so late am safaris were very uncomfortable.( did not know about no rooves at Kwando until just before departure so probably would not have booked here). However they did try very hard to accommodate us on game ride timings and I used a sarong and umbrella!!

The setting was absolutely fantastic. The rooms huge and very comfortable ( but with slippery rugs on highly polished floors!) the ceiling fans were excellent.The elephant swimming across the river was stunning and the evening boat ride very enjoyable .Paul , our guide , tried very hard to find game but there was disappointingly little about. We drove a long way to see the wild dogs which were great but didn't manage to track the cheetah due to the lack of game.

The camp is in an excellent position with great views across the river. The pool area great for relaxing in the shade and fishing from the deck was fun." See all these reviews: 11n in Botswana

"Wonderful place. We just loved it." See all these reviews: 8n in Botswana; 2n in Zimbabwe

"Beautiful, comfortable camp. The management and staff were very accommodating.

The game drives were spectacular! We were there in August and were lucky to see many predators and other game. Spencer and James were our guides/ driver. They were amazing. They successfully tracked cheetah, leopard, and lion. We had the most incredible experience with a pride of lions--I will never forget it. We were also able to see the wild dogs and their puppies!

We love the open trucks that Kwando has, even the Yuri!" See all these reviews: 9n in Botswana; 1n in South Africa

"After leaving Muchenje Safari Lodge we've had a scenic flight to Lagoon Camp located at the Kwando river.

We stayed for 3 nights at Lagoon Camp and enjoyed it very much!
The lodge is located at a lagoon and you can hear (and sometimes also see) elephants and hippos close by. The tented rooms are more than spacious with a large living-sleeping room and a bathroom with a bath tub facing to the lagoon - amazing. All people are very friendly and helpful and they create delicious meals. They offer game drives in the morning and afternoon and also a boat cruise an the Kwando river

Joe (a bushman!) and his tracker A.T. were a fantastic team to guide us. Because Lagoon is a private concession the drivers are allowed to drive off road and also at night. This is a big advantage in comparison to the National Parks where vehicles have to stay on the road and have to be back at the lodge/outside the park at sunset.

We've chosen this camp because we hoped to see wild dogs .... and we did!!! At the time of our visit the Lagoon pack consisted of 18 adult animals and 10 puppies (about 5 weeks old!). The den was just a 10 minutes drive away from the camp so it was easy to visit them (and we did it every day!!!). We saw them sleeping, suckling the puppies, playing, doing their famous ritual greetings, preparing for the hunt and also joined them hunting - an unforgettable adventure: we followed the dogs through the bush overriding bushes, logs and even small trees with the indestructible URI vehicle and joined them chasing a herd of about 100 buffaloes trying to bring down a calf (finally successful!).

But we've seen also a lot of other animals in this concession incl. elephants, buffaloes, wildebeests, topi ..... and we also saw a pride of 4 lions and not to forget a clan of hyenas at their den with 3 cubs !!!!

The boat cruise was nice but a little disappointing because we've seen only a few animals but other guests were more lucky in seeing more animals.

The camp was great and because of our wild dog experience this camp will stay unforgettable for us and of course we can't recommend it high enough !!!" See all these reviews: 12n in Botswana; 2n in Zimbabwe

"Our first camp in Botswana - very spacious and luxurious rooms. Friendly and welcoming staff and expert guiding. We had fantastic sightings of Wild Dog everyday of our stay, as they had set up their den very close to the camp.

Bali and Aaron our guide and tracker looked after us very well. Keeping up with the dogs while they are hunting is no easy task and you need to hold on tight as the vehicles do follow them everywhere!! But with expert driving by Bali we arrived at two kills very soon after they were made by the dogs.

We saw 7 species of antelope including Eland. We also had good sightings of both side stripe and black backed jackal. Also good birding with sightings of many raptors, Giant Eagle Owl and Kori Bustard." See all these reviews: 6n in Botswana; 2n in Namibia

"Kwando Safaris clearly like to give value in terms of length of game drives - 4 hours being about the average. This does mean that the late afternoon/evening drive inevitably turns into a night session as well, which may not suit everyone. Others, of course, will choose this and other Kwando camps specifically because of this.

We did spend quite a lot of time "driving around in the dark" - here and perhaps more so at Lebala - not seeing very much other than moths, but I suppose this is the nature of safaris in general. We were luckier at Kwara and felt the length of time spent in the dark was better here (i.e. not so long!) Enjoyed the sunset cruise on the lagoon/river as an alternative to a drive.

Regarding food: dinners were very good - not fancy food as provided in some safari camps, but good honest fare. The idea of brunch worked well, but the execution wasn't always perfect in terms of how hot some of the dishes were kept - we hardly had a hot sausage all week! Quality and supply of drinks was very good. Particularly liked the afternoon savoury snack and homemade lemonade.

The lovely polished wood flooring around the camp was extremely slippery in some places - near the dining area, for example - perhaps a little less polishing would be safer.

The tents are nothing short of magnificent.

Some disappointment at not seeing any cats, but wonderful experience with the wild dogs." See all these reviews: 8n in Botswana