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Ongava Lodge
Ongava Lodge
Ongava Lodge
Ongava Lodge
Ongava Lodge
Ongava Lodge
Ongava Lodge
Ongava Lodge
Ongava Lodge
Ongava Lodge
Ongava Lodge
Ongava Lodge
Ongava Lodge
Ongava Lodge
Ongava Lodge
Ongava Lodge
Ongava Lodge
Ongava Lodge
Ongava Lodge
Ongava Lodge
Ongava Lodge
Ongava Lodge
Ongava Lodge

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

Wildlife sightings by our travellers
Starting in Aug-2018, 56 of our travellers have recorded their wildlife sightings at Ongava Lodge.
Lion

90% success

Leopard

13% success

Cheetah

12% success

Giraffe

96% success

White Rhino

96% success

Zebra

93% success

Oryx

92% success

Elephant

88% success

Black Rhino

84% success

Wildebeest

83% success

Eland

41% success

Roan antelope

29% success

Spotted Hyena

17% success

Brown Hyena

16% success

Sable antelope

15% success

Pangolin

3% success

Aardvark

0% success

Showing 1-10 of 171
Duration
Arrival date
Mr & Mrs F
Surrey

"Ongava Lodge review"

3 nights Arrived 16 Apr 2025
"Camp facilities are comfortable, albeit a little dated (eg. instant coffee/tea only in the room). Views from restaurant and chalets are superb.

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
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Good
Activities:
Good
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Good
Sightings Report

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

Family T
Scotland

"Ongava Lodge review"

3 nights Arrived 30 Dec 2024
"Ongava Lodge is such a magical place.

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
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Elephant

10 sightings

Giraffe

4 sightings

Lion

5 sightings

Oryx

5 sightings

White Rhino

9 sightings

Wildebeest

7 sightings

Zebra

10 sightings

Alan and Di
Chippy

"Ongava Lodge review"

2 nights Arrived 17 Oct 2024
"Wonderful Lodge, perfect location with the water hole close by and sightings were easy.

You could walk to the Hide which was great.

Lovely pool." See all these reviews: 17n in Namibia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

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

MDB
Alaska

"Ongava Lodge review"

3 nights Arrived 14 Oct 2024
"Our longest stay of the trip was three days at Ongava and worth every minute.

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
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

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

S & S
Alaska

"Ongava Lodge review"

3 nights Arrived 7 Oct 2024
"We had an amazing stay at Ongava lodge.

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
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Black Rhino

3 sightings

Elephant

4 sightings

Giraffe

4 sightings

Oryx

Multiple sightings

White Rhino

1 sighting

Wildebeest

1 sighting

Zebra

Multiple sightings

R&E
London

"Ongava Lodge review"

2 nights Arrived 24 Sep 2024
"Amazing hotel and amazing drives" See all these reviews: 13n in Namibia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

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

Mr & Mrs H
Wirral

"Ongava Lodge review"

2 nights Arrived 13 Sep 2024
"Another excellent lodge, very comfortable rooms with great views over the plains.

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
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Black Rhino

6 sightings

Oryx

6 sightings

Barnes
Hampshire

"Ongava Lodge review"

2 nights Arrived 13 Sep 2024
"We all loved Ongava Lodge.

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
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Black Rhino

Multiple sightings

Eland

Multiple sightings

Roan antelope

Multiple sightings

Zebra

Multiple sightings

B & N
San Diego

"Ongava Lodge review"

2 nights Arrived 1 Aug 2024
"The hide near the waterhole is really cool, and the view of the waterhole from the lodge/restaurant is great. The tour guide Salathiel “Salat” was fantastic – very knowledgeable, friendly and funny, and truly gifted in understanding animal behavior and picking up on the smallest clues. He made the tours at Ongava Lodge wonderful. The trip into Etosha National Park was great, but be patient – there’s a long distance between everything.

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
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Good
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Good
Sightings Report

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

Ros &Peter
Melbourne

"Ongava Lodge review"

2 nights Arrived 5 Jun 2024
"Very comfortable lodge right next to Etosha NP. And a great waterhole where we saw lots of black rhino.

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
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Good
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Black Rhino

6 sightings

Giraffe

Multiple sightings

Lion

1 sighting

Oryx

Multiple sightings

Wildebeest

10 sightings

Zebra

9 sightings

Showing 1-10 of 171
93%
171 reviews of Ongava Lodge by travellers since August 2007
Overall rating by our travellers
122
38
8
3
0
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