Reviews of Ongava Lodge
Wildlife sightings and reviews
171 independent comments and wildlife information from our travellers who have visited Ongava Lodge and kindly agreed to share their thoughts. They do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa

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"Ongava Lodge review"
Camp staff is super friendly and polite, albeit service can be a little slow - which for guests leaving, is not helpful.
Excursions to Etosha park are very easy - as Ongawa lodge is literally next to one of the park entrances.
Lodge offers morning game drives in Etosha that are quite pricey - if you have a vehicle, it is best to drive yourself as the park has very well signposted routes.
Ongawa Lodge also charges for game drives in the reserve, these can quickly add up.
We visited at the end of a particularly rainy season so grasses were very tall and vegetation dense. We were still able to see lots of rhinos, elephants, giraffes and the larger antelopes.
There is an interesting exhibition about Ongawa Reserve and conservation efforts at the Andersen's Camp - we discovered this by accident and it is well worth a visit - maybe this can be better advertised by the staff in other lodges within the private reserve." See all these reviews: 10n in Namibia

Black Rhino
1 sighting

Elephant
10 sightings

Giraffe
10 sightings

Lion
8 sightings

Spotted Hyena
3 sightings

White Rhino
10 sightings

Wildebeest
10 sightings

Zebra
10 sightings
"Ongava Lodge review"
Set in a reserve that feels like a tiny bit of paradise, the lodge itself is extremely comfortable. The staff went out of their way to ensure we had everything we asked for.
The food was delicious. Walking to our cabins every night with an armed guard was a fun new experience, but in fact we never felt unsafe. We stayed at Ongava Lodge over New Year, and loved the efforts the staff made to ensure we had a fun New Year's Eve party.
Our guide Teacher was so knowledgable, and seemed to know the area backwards - we were blown away by the numerous animals we saw: elephants with babies, elephants swimming, lions, white rhinos with babies, but also zebra, wildebeest, antelopes of all types and sizes, warthogs, ostriches, guinea fowl, mongoose, hyraxes.
Teacher took us rhino tracking on foot, which was a unique way to experience the African bush and highly recommended.
We also visited the Discovery Centre and again highly recommend this, as it gave us a comprehensive insight into the Namibian environment and wild life." See all these reviews: 13n in Namibia

Elephant
10 sightings

Giraffe
4 sightings

Lion
5 sightings

Oryx
5 sightings

White Rhino
9 sightings

Wildebeest
7 sightings

Zebra
10 sightings
"Ongava Lodge review"
You could walk to the Hide which was great.
Lovely pool." See all these reviews: 17n in Namibia

Black Rhino
2 sightings

Eland
1 sighting

Elephant
10 sightings

Giraffe
10 sightings

Lion
5 sightings

Oryx
10 sightings

White Rhino
1 sighting

Zebra
7 sightings
"Ongava Lodge review"
We spent a lot of time at the hide where we observed the steady close-up coming-and-going of numerous antelopes, elephants, giraffes and rhinos.
When we weren't in the hide watching animals, we could see them from our dining room perch over the waterhole.
Our on-foot trek to find a couple of rhinos was among the highlights.
Staff and guides were excellent. The room and our deck were perfect." See all these reviews: 16n in Namibia

Brown Hyena
Multiple sightings

Cheetah
Multiple sightings

Eland
Multiple sightings

Elephant
Multiple sightings

Giraffe
Multiple sightings

Leopard
Multiple sightings

Oryx
Multiple sightings

Spotted Hyena
Multiple sightings

White Rhino
Multiple sightings

Wildebeest
Multiple sightings

Zebra
Multiple sightings
"Ongava Lodge review"
We didn't find the part of Etosha we could access from Ongava as interesting as what we were able to see from Hobatere, although it was certainly still an amazing place to visit. At Ongava we went on a morning nature walk with a guide aptly named Teacher, from whom we learned a lot, and also on an afternoon wildlife drive with another excellent guide, this one named Salalthiel.
We enjoyed the general feeling and ambience of Ongava, and the pool, and the deck with the view of the watering hole. However, perhaps the very best thing about Ongava was the viewing hide. We went down our first evening and were able to watch black rhinoceroses interacting around the hole. Another day we just hung out in the hide from 7 until about 12:30. I made a list of all the animals we saw, not including birds (and we saw about 8 new species of those). Here's that list:
1 Duiker
Jackal
Another duiker
10? kudu - no very mature males
4 zebras
24 impala
10 zebras
11 kudus
3 male impalas
7 impalas
1 springbok +3 more
Mature male kudu
3 male impala
5 male impala + 1 more
3 springbok + 1 more
6 Female kudu
2 springbok
1 male springbok
4 male impala, 1 very mature
1 male impala
1 male springbok
3 springboks
1 male African elephant + another
Mom and 2 young warthogs
7 male impalas including young ones
1 male and 2 female impalas
It was amazing to be able to just sit in the shade, so close to the hole and watch all these animals come and go. It is such a dry and barren-looking place, but obviously teeming with life. Later, as we watched from the deck over lunch, we saw the parade continue, and the elephants return.
Mammals and reptiles we saw at Ongava included:
Black rhino, Duiker, Ovambo Tree Skink, Cape skink, warthogs, Terrapin, kudus, springboks, steenboks, jackals, impalas, elephants, rock hyrax, klipspringers, giraffes, plains zebras, red hartebests and wildebeests." See all these reviews: 12n in Namibia

Black Rhino
3 sightings

Elephant
4 sightings

Giraffe
4 sightings

Oryx
Multiple sightings

White Rhino
1 sighting

Wildebeest
1 sighting

Zebra
Multiple sightings
"Ongava Lodge review"

Black Rhino
1 sighting

Brown Hyena
1 sighting

Eland
1 sighting

Elephant
Multiple sightings

Giraffe
Multiple sightings

Lion
Multiple sightings

Oryx
Multiple sightings

Spotted Hyena
1 sighting

Wildebeest
1 sighting

Zebra
Multiple sightings
"Ongava Lodge review"
We were tired here and decided to stay at the lodge and spent several hours in the hide where the game came to us!
Very good staff, and lovely food." See all these reviews: 13n in Namibia; 3n in Botswana; 2n in Zimbabwe

Black Rhino
6 sightings

Oryx
6 sightings
"Ongava Lodge review"
Set on a kopje overlooking its own enormous game park bordering Etosha, it has fabulous views, great staff, a swimming pool with great views and dassies in the surrounding rocks (that drink from the pool when no one is swimming) and it’s own incredible water hole." See all these reviews: 14n in Namibia

Black Rhino
Multiple sightings

Eland
Multiple sightings

Roan antelope
Multiple sightings

Zebra
Multiple sightings
"Ongava Lodge review"
The rooms were spacious and had a good view of the waterholes, and the additional outdoor shower was a pleasant surprise. Insect repellent was available in the rooms which was nice. The mosquito netting extended well beyond the bed, which is both good and bad - good that it gave more room to walk around and still be protected, but bad in that it is invisible in the dark and make walking to the toilet at night more of a challenge than one is expecting. We kept a light on our first night because of this, but that led to a less-than ideal night's sleep - which matters a lot when getting up early for the morning safaris. Note that we had the closest room to the lodge/restaurant, and we could hear conversations from diners while in our room. I'm sure the next room further over did not have this (very minor) issue.
There were two minor detractions from what would otherwise have be superb stay: (i) We felt rather rushed and uncomfortable by the room service, which we really did not need since we only stayed 2 nights. (ii) When dining, it was frustrating to not be able to sit at the edge of the balcony/patio so that we could watch the waterhole below. This was because there were two of us dining and the tables at the edge were for 4 or 6 diners. We understand that this makes sense if the dining area is crowded, but when it was nearly empty, to be denied that view was more than disappointing. Speaking of food, the options and food were very good, but not as great as some other places we stayed. We didn't like that there were birds freely walking and picking at the bread and other items at the breakfast buffet.
Note: There are a lot of steps between the parking area and lodge and the rooms." See all these reviews: 11n in Namibia

Black Rhino
1 sighting

Elephant
1 sighting

Giraffe
2 sightings

Leopard
1 sighting

Lion
2 sightings

Oryx
2 sightings

Roan antelope
3 sightings

Sable antelope
2 sightings

White Rhino
2 sightings

Wildebeest
3 sightings

Zebra
3 sightings
"Ongava Lodge review"
The game drives were very good, though it is a pity they do not go deeper into Estosha NP. Although this was not an issue for us, as we went later driving ourselves, it might be for guests whose only experience of Etosha is from this lodge (for example, we did not see any elephants when we were there)." See all these reviews: 25n in Namibia; 5n in South Africa

Black Rhino
6 sightings

Giraffe
Multiple sightings

Lion
1 sighting

Oryx
Multiple sightings

Wildebeest
10 sightings

Zebra
9 sightings
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