Julie (April 09)
What a wonderful place. We were so fortunate - only one family of four and us in camp and we all got on so well.
We effectively had private guiding with Balipi and KG to ourselves. It took a little time to get to know them but we learned so much from them. The bush walk they took us on was fantastic because they have so much knowledge. We really enjoyed talking to them about their lives - still in touch with their San roots and also moving on in the modern world of guiding. They were lovely people to spend time with. KG is very quiet - he just needs to grow in confidence. His demonstration of bush craft was wonderfully done. Balipi's experience shines through.
I know the family with us also had a fantastic time with Hector and Timothy.
We had gone to the Kalahari for the sense of space, remoteness and wide ranging views. Someone who measures their experience on how much large game they see might not have been quite as happy as us. On the whole day trip we covered 150km between 6.30am and 6pm and saw a cheetah towards the end of the day. Otherwise, mostly antelope, giraffe, birds and smaller animals like ground squirrels and a honey badger, all of which we really enjoyed seeing.
The other group saw more large game - lions and several cheetahs so it is very much down to chance who sees what. We were perfectly happy with this. The game is there - it's just harder to spot at this time of year with the high grass - we were fully aware of this so no problem. There is a small female leopard coming into camp regularly. A guide had seen her a couple of days before we arrived and her prints were there each morning but we didn't see her.
The camp location is exactly as depicted - on an elevated area with stunning views of the Pan below. The buildings are fabulous and we loved the ambience. The activities were half day game drives, a full day's drive around the Pans and a nature walk near the camp.
The food was outstanding. Geoffrey the cook was a genius - each meal was beautiful and then there was all sorts of other little touches like home baked biscuits with coffee on the morning drive and delicious canapés with sundowners.
The staff were all wonderful - so open and friendly - Hilda, Obi and Kenny are great at front of house, but we must acknowledge the back stage folk who kept everything running smoothly.
Alvin was managing in the absence of the regular managers - really nice guy and very reassuring presence with his experience. He really cared that we had a nice time and seemed to have a good relationship with the staff. One evening when we declined sundowners out in the bush after the long day drive, Alvin placed our usual drinks, chilled in an ice bucket on our deck so we could relax there. Really nice.
The camp is trying to run entirely on solar power which is great to see. There are one or two teething issues but nothing major and we were not inconvenienced. The hot water was coming through a bit slowly on the inside shower the first day but was receiving attention.
We spent one afternoon just chilling out on the observation deck in the shade - it was lovely. There were great books to look at, the water hole to keep an eye on, the pool if you wanted to use it and the shop (which is really nicely stocked).
The stink bugs were there in great number in the evenings - you did need to keep your drink covered. This just adds to the sense of being out in the bush unless you're really fussy. I gather their numbers are very high at present and this isn't usual. The children staying in camp were thrilled with them and all the other insects.
The transfer to the airstrip is just a few minutes so very convenient.
We had the best of times at this camp and I'll always remember the beauty of the land and wildlife, the wonderful remoteness, the colours at sundown and the wonderful people who looked after us there.
Julie (April 09)
Please find below a piece of an email I got from these clients who flew home last weekend. They had an Amazing time, I spoke to them on Monday and they were over the moon with everything! They were very keen that their feedback and thanks to the camp managers and staff would get to the right people, so here we go!
Kwara was breathtaking. Our guide was Mmuso (aka General) and our tracker was KB. They were Both fantastic. They showed us so much wonderful wildlife but it was also lovely sitting with them at mealtimes and getting to know them. I do however have to ask you to speak to someone "on high" at Kwando and ask them to give a huge thank you to Thuso and Agnes (the managers) at Kwara. It was my birthday while we were there and Thuso made it such a special day. He and Agnes absolutely work their socks off to ensure everyone has a great time (and believe me, not all guests are easy!). I really do feel that Thuso should get special recognition because he put his heart and soul into making our stay so special. Kwando are very lucky to have him.
And what can I say about Lebala?!? The most fabulous place and a wonderful end to our holiday. Jeff and Vera (relief managers) really did pull out all the stops to make sure their guests are relaxed and looked after. Nothing is too much trouble, they did a great job. And to our tracker (PD) and guide (Thabo). They were the high point of our stay at Lebala. They made the game viewings so much more than just looking at the animals. Their ability and knowledge is breathtaking and I really did have a lump in my throat when I had to leave.
At both Kwando camps, although we had only stayed there for four nights each, both Dave and I felt that we were leaving friends and it takes a very special camp and very special people to make you feel like that. You always felt valued and almost part of a family, which is something you really don't feel very often. Kwando should be very proud of their staff (and having spoken to people who had left Lagoon Lodge, I am sure the staff there made their guests feel the same).
Please pass this on and a huge thank you to Kwando for a fantastic trip!
Kevin (April 09)
What can I say.
This was an experience of a lifetime. We had an absolutely fantastic holiday.
I don't even know how to break this down.
The lodges were exceptional. The hospitality is so beyond world class.
I must say for us the people at Nxai Pan Lodge were probably our top. They were brilliant.
Certainly not taking anything from the other 2, as the people/staff were all exceptional but the folks at Nxai were top.
To let you know how awesome this was, when we left Nxai Pan and said goodbye to our guide Techo, my son Brent was almost in tears on the plane.
The entire day in the Delta; fishing, walking, picnicking under the trees, what more can a person want.
I think it is time for a change in life style. I'll have to ask John for a job managing one of his lodges.
Jokes aside, Linda it was brilliant.
Thank you so much for all the organising etc. All perfect.
Nick Dalton (April 09)
In a nutshell, the holiday was absolutely fantastic, and beat every expectation we had.
From the pick up at the airport by Roger, to Meno Kweno, to Nxai pan and Tau pan.
Then onto Kwara each lodge was fantastic in their own way.
Finally, Impalia Island was beautiful and the stay in Stanley’s was a fitting end.
For me, one of the highlights was staying in Kwara, mainly because there were so many animals, and we could drive off road, into the night to follow them.
We were lucky enough to follow a leopard for over 3 hours as it stalked and hunted through the delta, eventually catching fish to eat.
Then we saw wild dogs and tracked them for a whole morning as they too hunted.
And of course lions, many of those, with the chance to hear them roaring close by from the vehicle in the evening.
Anyway, I plan to edit my pictures and add post then online in the next couple of weeks, and as soon as I have done this I will send you the url link.
Again, many thanks to you for arranging this trip.
Tim (APRIL 09)
I just wanted to say a big thank you for helping us to organise such a memorable trip. The three Kwando camps were a perfect combination. Breathtaking scenery, wonderful hospitality and food, knowledgeable
guides, spectacular wildlife. The boys were made welcome at all three camps and had a brilliant time. Although Lagoon to Tau Pan to Kwara meant a couple of long flights, we felt with hindsight that it was the
ideal order in which to visit the respective camps. A classic introduction to a safari for the boys at Lagoon, then a complete contrast in the wide open spaces of the Kalahari (great cultural experience AND some great wildlife despite warnings to the contrary) followed by a fantastic climax at Kwara, where we had close encounters
with a tremendous variety of species.
The quality of the guiding, particularly at Lagoon and Tau Pan, was absolutely first class. Our guide and tracker at Kwara were not quite as impressive, but only because the standards set at the first two camps were so high. Paradoxically, Kwara was where we had the best and most varied game viewing, but we felt that this was due to the sheer abundance of the wildlife, rather than to the expertise of our tracker and guide (most of the sightings at Kwara were chance encounters or following up those radioed in by other guides). I want to emphasise that this did not in any way detract from the overall experience, but it's always worth giving frank and specific feedback on these things for future reference.
The list of sightings is too long to feature here, but it included four encounters with three different groups of cheetah, three different wild dog packs, numerous lions, plus sightings of leopard, serval, genet etc. The boys' "favourite animal" changed almost daily! It wasn't just about cats and dogs: the birdlife and reptiles were
brilliant too, including four different snake species in one afternoon at Lagoon and a virtual plague of goshawks in the Kalahari. Ollie also loved the bugs and befriended several beetles, grasshoppers and a praying mantis.
We would like to single out three people for a special mention:
Pat, our guide at Lagoon, was enthusiastic, friendly, informative and particularly adept at maximising photo opportunities.
Hector, our guide at Tau Pan, was exceptional in every way. If ever we return to these camps, we will ask specifically for him to guide us throughout our stay! He and his tracker, Timothy, were a wonderful double act.
Finally, Tuso (Thuso? - please excuse spelling) the excellent manager at Kwara. No surprise that he is a friend of Hector. He was the perfect host. Affable, amusing, and very efficient, with just the right combination of professionalism and informality. Spot on.
I would recommend Kwando to anyone. Very, very impressive outfit.
Mrs Robinson (MARCH 09)
We were SO lucky at Kwara we enjoyed game viewing far beyond our wildest expectations . We had an excellent guide in Bally whose keen eyes spotted so much . BJ our tracker kept us laughing and joking . What a team they were. Who would expect to see Cheetahs and cubs, Lions, Leopard, Hyena, Wild Dogs, along with Zeebra, Giraffe, Elephant, Kudu, Tessebe, Impala, Reedbuck, Waterbuck, Hippo, Baboons, Warthogs, Crocodiles, Snakes and all manner of birds ALL IN THE SAME DAY----------- Amazing!!
This was a very happy, established and well run camp, we just loved it and Tuso and Janet made us feel so welcome.
We shall return!!
Hannelore and Jochen Schulte-Rahde (MARCH 09)
Dear Linda, thank you so much for your quick answer.
Please give our best regards to everyone who organized our stays (12th - 18th of March) in Kwara and Lagoon so perfectly. Especially our guides Jacob in Kwara, Alison in Lagoon and very specially perfect our manager Lebo in Lagoon.
It's because of their very perfect professionalism we would like to come back soon. Because of that we will recommend your company to all of our friends.
Rainer Jenss (FEB 09)
Hello Linda - I'm sorry it's taken me this long to send you a thank you
note on behalf of me and my family. We haven't had much e-mail access since
being in Botswana.
We had an absolutely amazing time at the Kwando camps during our visit to
Botswana. The staff, guides and trackers were all first rate! And we loved
the "tent" feeling of the camps.
The boys' blogs should be posted very soon while mine probably won't go
live for another few weeks
Anyway, thank you again for all the hospitality and service. We will
definitely be back and recommend Kwando to everyone!
Pat and Debbie (JAN 09)
I would like to send a big HI! to Thuso, David our guide, Justice our tracker and Rose at Kwara Camp. We had the best time there; everyone was so professional but friendly and fun at the same time. We want to know if Justice has caught our fish for dinner yet, and if David tracked down the elusive leopard. You have a fabulous team out there at Kwara from management, to guides and trackers, to the chefs and house staff. Is there anyway we can contact Thuso personally?
Rob (DEC 08)
Thought you would like to here the following report from Michael & Janet McNeill who stayed at Lagoon recently:
Lagoon Camp - this turned out to be really special. Apart from loads of birds again, antelope, giraffe, lion (only 2 unfortunately), wildebeest, wart hog, elephant, zebra, hippo, baboon and wild cat, we then had the treat of our lives. After a two hour track, we found a pack of 14 wild dog and spent the rest of that day and part of the next hunting with them, including experiencing a kill. If that wasn't enough, we then came across three cheetah devouring a zebra, with a jackal trying its hardest, and succeeding, in stealing some of the kill. Those two events made the trip. Wines not so good but the guiding was exceptional.
Mervyn (NOV 08)
In the absence of knowing to whom precisely I should send comments, I have selected your e-mail location. I would be grateful if you would pass on comments to the appropriate channels.
My wife and I are regular safari travellers having been going to Africa for almost 20 years now, but this is the first time we have used camps in the Kwando group.
On our first night in camp (Lebala) we met with Sue (MD) and she outlined your philosophy particularly whereby the game drives and the searching for interesting sightings takes pride of place and your meal time schedule is secondary to that. We had experience of that at both Lebala and Little Kwara where the guides seemed to be working very closely with their clients to meet their expectations. It seems to work well and will certainly influence me to choose your group again on a future trip.
There is one point at Little Kwara which I would like to raise (I did mention it to the local management but pass it to you as well).
The river cruise is one of the best I have experienced with a variety of scenery encountered - as opposed to gliding through high papyrus for long periods on bothsides of the waterway which is often the case at other locations.
I look forward to hearing from your Group.
With thanks for helping to make our vacation so enjoyable,
From Alan, Karen and Melody (SEP 08)
We have recently returned from an 18 day trip to Botswana, Zambia and South Africa. The first camp we visited was 4 days at Little Kwara.
We could not have been more fortunate than to begin our journey at Little Kwara. The variety, abundance and profound beauty of the wildlife and terrain in the Okavango Delta surpassed all expectations we had of what we might have seen during our journey. We nicknamed our tent “Noah’s Ark” because of the stunning variety of animals which passed it day and night.
The biggest surprise was the people who work at Little Kwara from early morning to late at night. We feel privileged to have met and spent time with Lizy Sejabodile, Hobbs Dehoro and their colleagues Kenneth, Ezekial, “Kino”, Paul and Ossie among them. This is a remarkable group of people laboring together in kind spirit. We don’t expect we will ever find better guides and trackers or more gracious hosts.
Our difficulty was leaving. While some camps have made rote the rituals of making guests feel welcome, we found at Little Kwara people who transcend their responsibilities, bringing their own culture, wisdom, humor and experience to the encounter. We cannot thank you enough for allowing us to meet each of these people. We carry our memories near to our hearts. We look forward to corresponding and returning one day.
From Mrs Polack - (July 08)
‘’Songwe Village was a brilliant introduction to our journey. Dorothy was a dynamic woman, and full of knowledge and the feminine perspective. Abel, our guide was quite intelligent and knowledgeable about absolutely everything birds, animal behaviour, village life...anything. He was completely self-taught. impressive. The accommodations are not for everyone, but it certainly breathed fresh life into me and I loved it, start to finish. Drying my hair by a rigged car battery, gazing down at the Zambezi River was a vivid memory, learning about the constellations seen only in the Southern Hemisphere was "illuminating", the river cruise and gorgeous sunset, Victoria Falls, dancing with a colourful chitenge knotted at my shoulder after dining on traditional fare (decided not to try the worms).....and much more, was ALL fantastic’’
From Ian & Vicky Marshall (November 07)
Now that we're back in the (cold, dark, miserable) UK winter, I'd like to say many many thanks to everyone at Kwando for making our time in Botswana so special, we had a fabulous time and our wildlife experiences at all the Kwando camps were the best we've had in all our visits to Southern Africa. It's difficult to pick out individual experiences but if forced to pick the best moments from each camp:
Lebala ("Professor" Tarbo) making the call to abandon the game drive & hot foot it to the river where we waited as a constant stream of elephants including recently born (still pink) babies arrived to drink (a conservative estimate put the total number at well over 1000).
Lagoon ("Steve") Following a jackal's call that lead us to a leopard with an impala kill.
Little Kwara ("David") Tracking cheetah over 2 drives right through to the hunt & chase of an impala that only just managed to escape.
All these sightings must be up there with the best and are only a tiny proportion of the great experiences we had - the benefits of having top quality guiding/tracking really showed through. Even our road transfer from Lebala to Lagoon yielded us, thanks to Alwyn, our own "Cat Trick" of predators!
Whilst we were obviously there for the wildlife, everything in the camps was also first class, accommodation was excellent as was the food - I'm pleased I tend not to eat much when I'm hot otherwise I'm sure I would be on a major diet now - and every one was so friendly and helpful.
I'd like to think we'll return to Botswana again before too long and on the basis of this trip someone will have to be very persuasive to get us to choose anyone other than Kwando.
Please pass on our thanks to everyone who made this trip so memorable for all the right reasons
Very Best Regards
Ian & Vicky Marshal
From Mr John & Jill Lee (Sepember 07 - Kwara)
Having just returned from an amazing stay at Kwara Camp, where we were looked after by Justice and Savarra, I would like to say just how professional they both are.
Our experience at the camp far exceeded our expectations.
They went to extraordinary lengths to ensure our game drives were successful, not only that they were extremely courteous, polite and above all had a wonderful sense of humour, they are both such an asset to the camp and we feel privileged to have them as our guides, never was anything too much trouble.
From Steve Carr (January 07)
Hi,
I stayed at Kwando Lagoon between the 4th and 6th January this year having booked through Lianshulu Lodge in Namibia. Karen and I had a wonderful stay at Kwando Lagoon, the camp itself is lovely but what makes it even more special are the people who work there. If you would pass on our thanks to the staff, particularly lebuwe (I've spelt her name wrong I know), Russ, Barute and Rex.
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