Reviews of Lagoon Camp

"The overall condition of the camp was excellent. Our room was spacious, comfortable and spotless. It was maintained this way throughout our stay. It was quite wasn’t quite a plush as Kwara but there wasn’t much in it.

The location on the Kwando River was spectacular. I thought the view from central camp was breathtaking with Elephants regularly wading in the water on the bend of the river. Sitting on the river boat, with drinks and snacks laid out on the front and the sun going down felt totally unreal.

Once again there was a worry about laundering silk, once again I explained how to care for it (treat like cotton) but although they washed it, it came back un-ironed. I found this worry about silk a little odd as all the travel books suggest that along with cotton and linen, silk is a recommended material to wear to keep cool and I chose it, not for any fashion reason, but because it is a natural fibre and the one that I find the coolest to wear.

The food was excellent. A great selection and all very tasty. Once again, I loved the fresh made hot porridge cooked on the fire each morning and of course, that African blue cheese, plus another that has dried Cranberries. Totally delicious.

Once again, the staff were lovely, friendly and helpful and remembered all our needs.
I was encourage to have my first outdoor shower here and this became a ‘must’ thereafter.

Our guide was Ricco and our Tracker was James. Another amazing pair in their ability and efforts to find the wildlife. We quickly built up a great rapport with them and had many jokes passing back and forth.

After sneezing and joking that he was allergic to Lions……..we were parked by several at this point, this became the ‘saying’ between the four of us anytime anyone sneezed. It will remain as an ‘in joke’ with Peter and I. I will forever see the pair of them disappearing off into the bush following Pangolin tracks. We had a brief thought about hiding behind the vehicle so that it looked empty when they came back but safety took the lead here. However, we told them we had thought of this and all had a good laugh. Another departure from camp that was like leaving family and home. We all hugged at the airstrip again.
A great place.

The Little Extras that were appreciated at this camp:
Cold towels and a welcoming drink on all arrivals at camp.
The personalised bottle for water.
Good sanitation care from our guides.
The decorative towels on the bed on arrival.
The pretty beaded animals left on our pillows on the last night. These will be also be added to our Christmas tree as a memento of our visit.

The down side:
This may seem a little picky given we were in the Botswana bush but the pathway to and from central camp was a nightmare to walk. At all the other camps the pathways had been ‘flattened’ or covered. Here at Lagoon it was soft loose sand. By the time I had gone one way, anything on my feet and lower legs was black and the irritation on my feet was unpleasant. As we were in a room at the far end, this walk became quite a trial especially in the afternoon heat.

The rooms here are closer together than Kwara and other camps. It was possible to overlook each other’s bed area and although we talked in hushed voices so as not to be heard, other guests did not and this disturbed the overall peace of the place. Only two public loos here for both male and female and there was often a queue when it was time to depart on an activity. Perhaps this was because of the discomfort of walking back to a room on soft sand." See all these reviews: 12n in Botswana

"Great accommodation. All staff very helpful and friendly. Guide Vasco, tracker Freddie really helped us see many birds as we had requested. Full of other interesting information" See all these reviews: 16n in Botswana

"The Kwando reserve is renowned for its Wild Dogs and we had booked this and its sister Lebala Camp to maximise our chances of seeing these amazing and endangered predators.

To our astonishment a pack of 8 showed up on our very first afternoon. We were privileged to watch their ritual greeting before they set off on a hunt. We spent our next few days tracking their whereabouts and this was a great thrill. There was plenty of other predator action too.

The Red Lechwe were spectacular when they leapt across the shallow water areas to escape the Lions of the Holly Pride. We saw Leopard too. Our more unusual sightings included Aardwolf, Wild Cat, Eland, Sable Antelope and Honey Badger.

The lodge has very spacious bedrooms overlooking the Kwando River. One afternoon a mother and baby Elephant passed right in front of our front window. We recommend the double deck boat trip in the evening to pass Hippos and Elephants as well as Carmine Bee-eaters.

Great guiding from KB and his tracker Vincent." See all these reviews: 19n in Botswana

"Accommodation, food, service , game drives and boat trip all excellent.

Guide G (or Gee) and tracker James also excellent.

Nick really enjoyed being close to the hippos and their gentle noise at night!" See all these reviews: 15n in Botswana; 2n in Zimbabwe

"Great location and the accommodation was of a very high standard. Sadly, the food was not to the same standard and the Vegetarian option lacked imagination.

On a more positive note both the guide and spotter were very good and worked very hard to ensure we enjoyed our time at Lagoon camp. Besides game drives you can also spend time on the river which we both enjoyed.

We were very fortunate to witness a pride of lions feasting on a buffalo kill and on a last morning drive saw Wild dogs, Cheetahs, Leopard and Lions. If that was not enough a herd of elephant’s were enjoying a drink by the river. Some morning!" See all these reviews: 10n in Botswana; 1n in South Africa

"We had some wonderful sightings and memorable experiences at Lagoon Camp.

Guide (Ike) and tracker (James) were both very good - even amazing.

The "tents" are huge! The camp is in an excellent setting." See all these reviews: 10n in Botswana

"Fantastic guide. Can’t praise him enough.

Wildlife viewing excellent" See all these reviews: 8n in Botswana; 2n in Zimbabwe

"Located on the Kwando River, this was a very welcoming place, and we were well looked after.
Our guide was accompanied by a tracker/spotter colleague, and they managed to locate some special sightings, particularly the wild dogs (with puppies).
From our tent verandah we could watch the hippos in the river." See all these reviews: 10n in Botswana

"Lagoon camp was set in a beautiful riverside location where you could regularly see hippos, elephants, antelope and baboons from the camp. In fact several times we met the elephants on foot heading back to our rooms! Amazing.

The staff were all friendly, welcoming and excellent at their jobs. In particular we had a great team for our game drivers with our guide Spencer and tracker Kern. The food was excellently prepared and served and the managers were always around for a chat about your day.

We had been prepared for the food to be less good than other camps we'd been too but that wasn't our experience at all! Yes, it's buffet style not fine dining but we had many high-quality and excellent dishes. Early morning light breakfast (best muffins ever!) followed by brunch after your drive, afternoon tea and then dinner at around 8pm. Shout out as well to the self-service bar which even provided lemon and ice for G&Ts and a good range of beer and wine.

But of course we were really there for the animals! And they didn't disappoint. Straight off the plane we were offered a game drive (and said yes of course!) and were soon sat watching 3 leopards eat their dinner and then drag the remains up into a tree. Other highlights included a huge lion pride on the move, seeing the wild dogs at their den and some rare night drive encounters (including an Aardwolf!!). If you've not been to a camp that does night drives before, it's a great addition.

EA is right to highlight that Kwando camps emphasise hunting for predators and that sometimes this means lots of time spent tracking (not always effective, but really interesting... our guides were experts) and darting off to the other side of the reserve at speed when another vehicle spots something. But that's how you see leopards and wild dogs!

Compared to our time on safari in south Tanzania the overall game density felt lower, or at least harder to find, but that led to much more willingness to search for specific sightings and it paid off in rare animals we had never seen before. If you have a specific interest, your guide will definitely try and find it for you. One of our group really wanted to see an owl and we found three different species (two technically owlets). Yes, we were there for the predators but by the end I was quite the birding expert as well! All down to Spencer's outstanding knowledge about everything we saw.

Would definitely recommend Lagoon camp to others and fingers crossed we might be back one day!

(We did experience an unexpected negative event whilst staying at Lagoon camp that resulted in us leaving a night early for another Kwando camp. I am fully convinced this was an extremely rare occurrence and out of the control of Kwando, it's staff and EA - all of whom helped us handle it with minimal disruption to our trip. I mention it here in good conscience so that you can speak to EA if concerned but personally would still 100% recommend this camp. Things can go wrong anywhere; if you're very unlucky and it does you'll find you're in good hands.)" See all these reviews: 6n in Botswana; 3n in Zambia

"I had a private in Lagoon. Because of my specific desire to see the wild dogs. And what a pleasant surprise it was that - after 10 year - Spencer again was my guide. He is a very experienced and knowledgable guide. He (almost) thinks like a predator. So I had my wild dog sightings. And it was great to be with him again.

At the same time this says a lot. Because at Lagoon they seem to focus very much on the predators: lions, leopards, cheetah, wild dogs. And it seems that all other animals are quite squitisch and run form the car. A car which is driving quickly (in order to keep up with the dogs or find lions). And they go very far in order to pursuit their goals. Maybe sometimes a little bit too far I would say. Especially ellies react very strongly to the cars. Completely different behavior then eg in Selinda.

We were able to see a herd of Eland from fairly close. And - first sighting for me ever - an aardwolf at night.

The rooms maybe could use some repair, refurbishment and fresh paint." See all these reviews: 20n in Botswana; 1n in South Africa