Reviews of Okonjima Bush Camp

"We choose Okonjima Bush Camp as the last stop on our self-drive holiday, to try and see leopards and pangolin, as these animals are so elusive and difficult to spot, but there seemed to be a decent chance at this reserve.

Our guide Matthew was extremely knowledgable about all the wildlife, and our safari drives were interesting and entertaining. Matthew went above and beyond to ensure we saw leopards, and on our very last night, even a pangolin.

Besides the game drives, we also enjoyed guided walks and visited the Africat foundation. It was sobering to see the last few cheetahs still living at the Africat foundation, and hear about the difficulties of managing human/wildlife interactions.

The lodge and cabins at Okonjima were extremely comfortable, and the food was excellent. The staff were helpful and kind.

We were able to stay at the lodge until midday on our last day as we had a late flight home." See all these reviews: 13n in Namibia

"This was the last lodge we stayed at in our two week clockwise circuit of Namibia.

The chalets at Okonjima Bush Camp are spaced about 100m apart and all have private views of the savannah. There’s no a/c, but these actually worked at cooling down the inside.

Our guide, Mathew, was really knowledgeable about the local wildlife and fauna. We learnt quite a bit, even though we’ve been going on lots of game drives the past week or so. We saw a number of species we hadn’t yet seen on this trip, including dik-diks, duikers, and warthogs. We also saw a family of bat-eared foxes, and a canary, which I’ve not previously seen in the wild.

We returned to the lodge around 9:30am, and had a large breakfast (probably better classified as a brunch given the time and the amount we ate).

The safari schedule here at Okonjima Bush Camp is more what we were accustomed to - breakfast after the morning safari, a long break over the afternoon, and then an evening safari. It’s much more relaxing than the six hour excursions we had earlier on the trip.

The afternoon safari was tracking leopards, which are collared here. We started with spotting a non-collared one, which was a bonus! Our guide then used an antenna to locate two other leopards. Unfortunately they were sleeping in dense underbrush and not photographable. (I took some anyways).

We ended the game drive with a collared leopard who was resting after eating. It wasn’t interested in us and was habitualized to the vehicle, but we still got a little close to it for our comfort and the leopards imo.

The lodge was a nice ending to our 2 weeks on safari" See all these reviews: 16n in Namibia; 1n in South Africa

"Our only regret is that we only had 2 nights here - we wanted 3!

Exceptional accommodation, warm welcome (return for my partner) and some of the best food on our trip. Spotted some animals here we didn't see anywhere else including babboons and so, so many birds.

The cheetahs are beautiful but we might not view them again as they are now held in captivity and not doing much.

Other wildlife in the reserve is wonderful and well managed. Guides are excellent.

We will return as soon as we can." See all these reviews: 19n in Namibia

"Very poor greeting. Offered an iced tea which was warm! Slight confusion over who was dealing with us. No one person ever seemed to be in charge.

The first lunch we ordered a glass of white wine which again arrived slightly warm and we had to go and get our own ice. Food was distinctly patchy.

Our rooms were excellent as were the drives.

A bit too manicured for our taste but it produced some wonderful photos.

Sundowner location magnificent." See all these reviews: 14n in Namibia

"THE BEST!

24 hours is not long enough!

Excellent Guide Matthew." See all these reviews: 17n in Namibia

"On driving to the gatehouse we were told that we'd been upgraded from the Plains Camp to the Bush Camp. As the two camps were a little apart and the guests kept separate, we've no idea what the difference is or how good the Plains Camp is. We can only review the Bush Camp. Our building had a large room that was both bedroom and bathroom and then adjacent was another building with a living room. all rooms had windows to view whatever was going on outside.

The staff were good and the food was good. Our only complaint is that when about to set off on a leopard tracking trip we were told that we should buy water from the bar as none was carried. Really? This must be the only safari we've ever been on when the organiser didn't carry water for guests. With a few other little things it left an impression with us that it was a place very focused on the bottom line. There's nothing wrong with making a profit but a little subtlety with guests would go a long way.

The leopard tracking was a great success. We were lucky that he'd obviously had a big meal recently and was fairly inactive. Another day and he might have been in the mountains hunting and we'd not have seen him. The history of 'our' leopard was fascinating and we learned a bit about others on the reserve too.

The cheetah experience was more mixed but only because these magnificent animals are being squeezed out of their habitat across Namibia (and beyond) and are struggling to compete against leopards and hyenas. The Government has changed the law so helping orphans is much more difficult and their future looks bleak - but learning more about it all was worthwhile." See all these reviews: 14n in Namibia

"Same as before" See all these reviews: 22n in Namibia

"We really packed in the activities while we were an Okonjima. We went on a walk by ourselves on one of the very well-marked foot paths, which was enjoyable, although very hot.

We did an afternoon leopard tracking drive. The leopard was radio-collared and our guide drove through bushes and up dry river beds to find her. It felt a little harassing, as she was hiding and obviously not super excited to see us, and we caused her to move a couple of times.

That night we went on a drive to see a pangolin. The pangolin was also tagged and two researchers had been out to find her, so we were led right to her. Because many of the leopards at Okonjima are radio-collared, the guide we were with was aware that there was a large male leopard near by. We waited in the vehicle until it appeared that he was moving away. We used red lights to see the pangolin, and were very quiet. Unlike the leopard, she did not seem to be disturbed by our presence, often walking toward us as she snuffled about for ants. Seeing this strange and rare animal in the wild was really pretty thrilling, and we felt very lucky to have the opportunity.

The next day we did another nature drive with a guide. Because it was just the two of us, the guide as able to focus on our interests. We spent some time looking for a hyena, but did not find any. We did see a pair of bat-eared foxes. We spent more time looking at birds, and we saw quite a few that we hadn't seen anywhere else. While birding near a water hole, we heard kudus barking in alarm, and our guide told us that a leopard was likely near. And then there she was, walking up to the water hole to get a drink. This leopard sighting felt more satisfying than the first, since it came unbidden.

Our final activity at Okonjima was a tour of the Africats facility. We saw the rescued cheetahs who are living in captivity there. They had tried releasing cheetahs back into the park main area at Okonjima, but because they did not know much about hunting, because they'd been living in captivity, and because the leopard population is so high, and it really is better leopard than cheetah habitat, the cheetahs were being killed off. They were returned to this somewhat zoo-like setting (although with a great deal more space than any zoo could provide) to live out their days. It was a bit sad, although of course also wonderful to get to see these animals, and much better than their being shot, which would likely have been there fate had they not been rescued and brought to Okonjima. We also got a tour of the veterinary facilities and a small museum, and learned about the history of Okonjima and about the various uses of land in Namibia and how they are regulated, which was interesting.

Okonjima was the only place we visited where the herbivores were being fed. Our guide said that this was due to the drought, but it may also keep the population of herbivores artificially high, supporting an artificially high population of leopards as well. Okonjima was also the only place we visited that talked about doing research on their animal populations (although we did see radio collars on lions at Hobatere and on a hyena in Etosha). It seems like the main thing they do is keep track of where they find the animals (leopards and pangolins are two of the animals being researched) and what they see them doing. In the case of pangolins in particular this research seems to have led to new insights into the behavior patterns and territoriality of the animals.

Mammals we saw at Okonjima included:
black mongoose, leopard, elephant shrew, eland, bat-eared fox, pangolin, kudu, springboks, jackals, impalas, steenboks, damara dik diks, duikers, giraffes, plains zebras, red hartebeets, scrub hares, baboons and wildebeests." See all these reviews: 12n in Namibia

"Pangolin tracking was a highlight of trip: our guide grabbed us from a late dinner and took us into the dark night and we found a pangolin and followed it for 30 minutes -- amazing!

We saw cheetahs -- and we got close enough to hear them purring.

The leopards were elusive, but our guide was intent on finding them until we succeeded.

The room was beyond great. We saw wildlife, even giraffes, from our room." See all these reviews: 16n in Namibia

"A wonderful place.

The rooms are fantastic and the reception area overlooks a large water area so plenty of game to watch. Service is impeccable and the food plentiful and delicious.

One note is that the leopards here are collared (once they reach a certain age) which not all visitors might like. Having said that, we had superb sightings and our guide, Peter, went out of his way to ensure we had a good time.

He was also very knowledgeable about placing the vehicle for the best photo opportunities.

Can thoroughly recommend this place and huge thanks to them for upgrading our first night from Plains Camp to Bush Camp." See all these reviews: 16n in Namibia