Travel reviews by Mr S from Switzerland

"Had a truly amazing 4 nights/days at Footsteps. Huge thank you to Moses, Sue, Mbaki, Congo, Dr Loorve, Phefo, Hope & KP with all of whom we (Larry, Nancy & myself) built such a fantastic rapport. The activities we did, walking and jeep safaris as well as a mokoro trip, were all brilliant, and loads of animals (game, predators and birds) were tracked and spotted. Sundowners, too, were amazing, and the staff put a lot of thought into how and where they would do them.

The tents were very comfortable in camp, with hot water boiled on the fire if you want a bucket shower. Food at the camp was amazing, even forgetting the very basic equipment used to prepare it. The camp itself is superbly located on a lagoon with a lot of walk-in visitors (hippos, elephants, hyenas) to keep everybody company and Hope, in particular, busy chatting away ("What are you doing here?")!

We also had 2 very enjoyable games of football with the staff, one of the highlights of which was surely a surprising slide tackle by Sue on Nancy. And for the record, we still maintain we scored 7 goals in that first match, not 5 as the official stat sheet shows. We were very appreciative of the staff spending time with us on their own personal time, like the first night when they all joined us around the fire for a chat and the final night when they put on an excellent traditional dancing/singing display. Sadly, we never got to hear Congo's full story, though we were told that if you start in the panhandle, then head up a long way, keep walking and walking, then turn left and keep walking, and walking and walking, you would eventually arrive in his village, which only has 10 people, or actually 9, because Congo was with us! Boster (aka Dr Loorve), however, did manage to introduce a new word into human vocabulary, "Sqwangwa" (for those of you unfamiliar with the term, it refers to the metal plate upon which the burning coals of a fire are first placed), which even now makes me laugh when I think of it. And if Moses tries to convince you that his first girlfriend at the age of 12 was a girl from the US, don't believe him.

I cannot recommend this camp highly enough. If you are coming to the Okavango Delta, I highly recommend you spend at least some of your time here. I get the impression it is not that well known given its distance (1.5hrs) from the nearest (Shinde) airstrip. For us, those drives from/to the airstrip, where we saw wild dogs and a leopard, were another game viewing highlight.

A totally amazing 4 days. Didn't want to leave. Sqwangwa!"

"Had an excellent 2 nights/days here. My only regret was that I hadn't booked to stay longer. I would highly recommend that you spend at least 3-4 nights here. The location/aspect of the camp is unbeatable, so relaxing overlooking the lagoon, with its resident hippos and herds of elephant and zebra bathing and grazing close by. There is a great little plunge pool and deck in which to cool down and laze about between game drives too. And a nice library to have some quiet time.

The huge, permanent tents have a lovely terrace overlooking the lagoon, a separate seating area, indoor/outdoor showers, as well as a stand alone bathtub also overlooking the lagoon. Food and service by all the management and staff at camp (Lebo, Kay, etc) was exemplary.

My guide/tracker (Hopps/Justice) were extremely skilful and great company. On the first morning, we tracked wild dog prints for one and a half hours before finally finding a pack of 23 dogs (including 10 puppies). I was totally blown away by the quality of tracking of these guys. They both have extensive experience in this field and it clearly shows.

On my first night, I was actually staying in the camp by myself, which was amazing (though the camp filled up the next day), and gave me the opportunity to have a long chat by the fire with Jake, the very friendly and hospitable camp manager, and also Hopps, who regaled us with stories of previous guiding successes, client antics, and very funny guiding mishaps/close calls over the years. A really fantastic evening. Highly recommend this camp. Again, I really didn't want to leave."

"After 2 nights in Lebala's sister camp, Lagoon, around 30kms away, I spent 3 nights in Lebala. As with Lagoon, the quality of the experience in Lebala was outstanding. The rooms are very nicely appointed with outdoor showers, a deck overlooking the plains in front of the camp, and loads of space. The walls are mostly a mosquito netting type material, which allows you to look out into the plains and up to the stars at night from your bed. A really nice touch, particularly when the plains are so constantly alive with the echoes and cries of animals throughout the night. The camp also has a small plunge pool, which was very nice during the break over lunch between game drives when it was very hot.

On my first game drive back to Lebala from the 'half way point' (to Lagoon), Ishmal and Mr More (our guide and tracker) impressively managed to spot a leopard running in the bush some distance away. Over the following 45mins or so, we were able to spend some very enjoyable, quiet time right next to it. A very nice introduction to Lebala! Their eagle eyes were generally very impressive, with another leopard spotted up a tree on a later game drive, as well as lions (we had a price of 19 lions on the final day), hyenas, jackals, a huge variety of birds, etc.

On a couple of afternoons, we had sundowners in a truly majestic setting, known as 'Twin Pools' (for memory), which is a huge open savannah full of elephants (100+ on one of the nights), zebras, wildebeest, etc. So beautiful and tranquil. For one of the dinners, the camp organized a lantern-lit dinner away from the camp buildings, right next to the open plain, complete with a campfire apero and BBQ. The memory of that night will live on in my memory for a long time. Everybody loved it. The quality of food at Lebala, generally, was unbelievably good, a real highlight. As was the service and attentiveness of the management and all staff (Action/Violet, Hobbs, etc)."