Kwando Safari Camps 

Cape to Cairo African Business and Adventure Travel

Kwando Safaris has distilled the classic African safari experience to its essence, taking  personalized service,  well appointed camps and fabulous gameviewing to a new height. What sets Kwando apart is, first, a camp management and staff whose experience, personability and commitment to giving you the best possible experience cannot be matched.

The Kwando hall-mark is the off-road experience, spending hours, deep in barely accessible bush, thicket or mopane forests, to find lion, leopard, and fighting hippo, or breathtakingly to chase across an open field following a wild-dog hunt.  Other unique features include the very small number of vehicles on very large concessions [a maximum of 6 passengers per game drive vehicle vs. up to 10 for most companies], longer than usual game drives and extensive night-drives, and, Kwando continues to use  a separate tracker on a seat at the front of the vehicle.  The ability of the trackers to stay on the trail of an animal for miles, following the occasional hint of an almost invisible paw prints in the sand is truly impressive.

With all that Kwando offers, its camps are amazingly relaxed and informally operated.  Trusting the judgment and professionalism of their guides and staff, they are able to take a no rules approach to running their camps and they get it just right, with the camp managers treating you as a welcomed guest to their private home.  Each camp includes spacious tents with ensuite facilities, a plunge pool, superb cooking, open bar and a well-appointed lounge area inviting convivial evening conversation.  

Kwando operates in four concessions:

• Kwara concession consists of about 660 square miles of wilderness in the northern part of the stunning Okavango Delta with a permanent river forming the boundary with the Moremi Wildlife Reserve to the south. 
• Kwando concession the 860 sq. mile includes 48 miles of frontage on the Kwando River with Lebala Camp and Lagoon Camp. 
• Central Kalahari Game Reserve
• N'xai Pan National Park

• Family safaris - for $250 per day, Kwando will provide an experienced child oriented guide to accompany you - she will help attend to your children ensuring that they have a rewarding experience while you have the opportunity to relax and enjoy your holiday.
• Private vehicles - for  $170 per day. 
• Private guiding using Kwando's expert guides.
• For the ultimate safari experience Kwando Lagoon camp offers and opportunity to participate in their Guides Training Courses  held annually to train our guides and some limited numbers of paying guests. 

This friendly and intimate camp consists of eight luxury safari-style tents built on raised decks, within a grove of huge and ancient African Ebony trees. Each tent has its own viewing platform, and the tents and lounge area overlook a permanent lagoon in front of the camp which is a riot of wildlife, day and night, with hippo, crocodile, red lechwe, impala, and elephant seen almost continuously, as well as a stunning variety of birdlife.

The camp fronts onto a huge floodplain, adjacent to the permanent water of the Delta and is backed by extensive bush. It is a magnificent wilderness area bordering the Moremi Reserve. Kwara encompasses a wide diversity of habitats, ranging from the clear Delta waters with reed-lined lagoons and channels, to open grasslands, mopane woodlands and palm-fringed islands.

The Kwara concession contains 175 000 ha (or 1750 square kilometers) almost half a million acres! The ability to operate off road and at night is critical in order to see the up to 30% of interesting mammal species that are mainly active at night. These include leopard, lion, wild dog, hyena and smaller predators.

The forested island on which the camp sits is typical of those encountered throughout the vast 1.6 million hectares of the Okavango Delta. At Kwara, you will discover why the Okavango is considered one of the ecological wonders of Africa and indeed the world. It is mysterious, calming, unpredictable and very wild.

Kwara also boast a honeymoon suite with its own special bathroom with an antique slipper bath with the traditional ball and claw feet. Hire a private vehicle and have the wilderness almost to your selves – enhanced by your own guide and tracker who will cater to your interests unobtrusively. The memory will live forever.

While the year-round  wildlife experience is diverse, the focus is definitely on the water. Whether gliding along in the special silence of a mekoro dug out canoe through crystal-clear waters or visiting the famous Godikwe lagoon, where you can stand on a boat literally eye to eye with thousands of herons, storks and other nesting birds.

Other species you can encounter through the channels and rivers are kingfishers, pygmy geese, fish eagles, jacanas, darters and if you're really fortunate, the elusive Pels Fishing Owl.

Along with the bird watching, Kwara offers fishing (both spinner and fly), walks with a guide on one of the many palm-fringed islands and also spectacular night drives on top of our morning and afternoon drives. The beauty and charm of Kwara will captivate you.

The Kwara area is also home to a variety of wild animals including, lechwe, sitatunga, reedbuck, bushbuck, hippo, crocodiles, elephant, buffalo, sable, roan, zebra, giraffe, wildebeest, impala and tsessebe. Lion, hyena, wild dog, leopard and cheetah are abundant in this part of the Delta and regularly seen.

Activities - mekoro trips year round, double deck boat cruise, island walks as well as game drives both off road and at night. Fishing is also offered on request, using normal reel and rod fishing.    The presence of permanent water at Little Kwara ensures excellent year-round game viewing. The permanent water also ensures that mekoro trips (dugout canoes) can take place in shallow water throughout the year. Little Kwara is one of a handful of camps able to make this claim of being a wet and dry camp all year around.

Little Kwara Bedroom


Little Kwara Lounge at sunset

Lebala means wide open spaces in Setswana and the scenery is dominated by vast plains with scattered palms and tree clumps backed by wooded savannahs. 

This wild expanse is contrasted with the casual elegance and luxury of the camp itself. Lebala Camp is situated 30 kilometers to the south of Lagoon Camp and fronts onto the Linyanti Wetlands.

Open grasslands scattered with Illala Palms stretch to the south and west of Lebala. The perennial and southerly flowing Kwando river disappears into the vast marshes before emerging as the Linyanti river, flowing in a north easterly direction. The triangle formed in Namibia by this direction change is home to the Mamili National Park.

The eight spacious tents are unique and were designed by us specifically for this camp. Each one is built on a raised teak deck, laid out with maximum comfort and privacy in mind. The tents have an entrance foyer with a reading and writing area, en-suite bathrooms with Victorian clawfoot bathtubs, "his and hers" washbasins and flush toilets. The bathrooms lead out to a reed enclosed open-air shower with hot and cold running water, powered by LP gas for hot water on demand.

Each secluded tent has its own sundeck, and is set back among the trees. The endless vistas from the large windows and decks across the vast plains, make Lebala one of the finest wilderness camps in Africa.

The wetlands and flood plains around Lebala offer a wonderful variety of wildlife with excellent sightings of elephant, hippo, lechwe, zebra, giraffe, impala, wildebeest, kudu, tsessebe, roan, sable, buffalo and the ever present predators; wild dog, lion, cheetah and hyena. 
 

This area is home to huge herds of elephants and buffalo. There are few places in Africa where such concentrated numbers of these animals exist, especially in the dry season.

The shady, treed environment of the camp hosts a great variety of birds and squirrels that visit daily. A family of hippo and an elephant or three are regularly sighted from the tents. This contributes to the relaxed calm that prevails at Lagoon. The predators are also well represented by lion, hyena, leopard, cheetah and wild dog. These animals are generally very relaxed in the presence of vehicles, meaning the sightings are usually at close range.

Among the great variety of antelope species found at Lagoon, the endangered Sable and Roan are often seen. Seasonally, large herds of elephant drink almost daily at the river bank in front of the camp, in full view of the guests. The big herds attract big predators. The lions of Kwando are famous for their elephant, hippo and buffalo kills. Playful spotted necked otters are commonly seen performing in the Lagoon right in front of the tents.

Boat cruises along the Kwando River provide excellent opportunities for birding. We also offer specialist fly fishing and spinner fishing for Tiger fish and Bream. Some excellent catches have been made by Kwando guests.

Kwando has just opened this fabulous new luxury camp located in the tree line with 8 rooms with thatched roofs and insulation so it is cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. The main area consists of a dining room, lounge area, viewing deck, swimming pool, library and curio shop.
 

N'xai Pan Camp Lounge


N'xai Pan Camp Bedroom

View of Tau Pan from Viewing Deck

Tau Pan Bedroom