Reviews of Okonjima Bush Camp

"When we arrived at Okonjima Plains Camp (for our stay of three nights) we were informed that we had been upgraded to accommodation at the Bush Camp, which was indeed of the very highest standard (these comments .

It would be hard to imagine a more luxurious setting. Our room had wide windows looking over the bush, with a conveniently-placed watering hole not more than a couple of metres away, that during our stay was visited by warthogs, meerkats and all kinds of birds, including some spectacular hornbills.

Our meals, at the main lodge building, were outstanding (and the setting, on the edge of the bush, was breathtaking). The staff were attentive, friendly, warm and helpful.

The lodge is geared to offering visitors the experience of sighting animals in the wild, with numerous activities on offer to help ensure that they do. We visited the night hide - none of the animals decided to come out that night, and Juuson, our guide, seemed more disappointed than we were. He was determined to make up for it on a drive early the next morning, on which we saw rhino, wildebeest, hyena and leopard (amongst many, many other things).

Like the other Namibian guides we've met, Juuson was full of insight and enthusiasm for his work. We got an extra insight into his skill when we met another visitor who was out for a long walk alone. A few minutes after that encounter Juuson stopped the vehicle and pointed at the ground nearby and said "Hmm, he *said* he wasn't lost, but he spent quite some time here walking around in different directions trying to decide where to go" - clearly, a good guide can also track human animals very effectively.

There are numerous walking trails at Okonjima, accompanied by some slightly eccentric maps. The trails are not always sign-posted as well as they could be and it was a little too easy to lose the trail. But walking peacefully in the wilderness, we saw all kinds of things at close hand - it was a beautiful thing to be able to do.

Our stay at Okonjima was a first-class experience." See all these reviews: 5n in Namibia

"Okonjima should be on a different scale than any other lodges. In my opinion, and my son's, it wasn't just excellent -- it was perfect.

We stayed at Bush Suites which was stunning. The Suites could be in Architectural Digest as is. More importantly, the staff was far and away the best I have ever seen. Melissa and Gideon seemed to really want everything to be perfect for us -- and they listened to what we wanted.

We chose to go on a leopard drive with Gideon but told him about our interests in the smaller stuff. We saw bullfrogs, terrapins, tortoises, dikdiks, etc. as well as leopard and brown hyena He also was very knowledgeable about plants and birds. We arrived back late from the drive due to a severe rainstorm. Three different people were posted to check on our safety and Melissa had a fire going for our arrival "home." Unfortunately we could not do a night drive or pangolin walk due to the rain.

We had said we wanted to see the center in the morning but Gideon did not blink when we changed our minds to a game drive at 5:30 am. My son stayed up all night videoing the night time animals including a genet cat that Melissa told frequently appears in search of grapes. My son didn't want to miss a minute with unnecessary sleep.

I actually hugged Melissa goodbye something I have never done in 60 years of traveling. I cannot say enough.

Our only regret is not staying a second night." See all these reviews: 10n in Namibia; 3n in Botswana; 1n in South Africa

"Upon arrival, the cheerful gate attendant happily told us we had been upgraded to Bush camp, so this review and ratings apply to there rather than the Plains Camp (which we are sure is nice too!) We had previously stayed at Bush Camp 4 years ago.

We arrived from Windhoek in time for lunch, and we had already been pre booked onto the afternoon activity, starting at 4pm. We were staying for two nights, so signed up for further morning, afternoon and night activities to keep us occupied for our time here. The room is very well equipped, and we also enjoyed the 'open air sala' lounge area next door to relax and drink tea whilst observing the wildlife between activities.

We enjoyed all of our meals here and think the food is excellent. Gideon, our guide was great and very knowledgeable. We shared a safari vehicle with 4 other guests for all activities bar one (which they didn't do). It was also nice to catch up with Opari, our guide from 4 years ago.

As like last visit, we are very impressed with the levels of research and conservation that takes place at Okonjima. We hope to return again!" See all these reviews: 12n in Namibia; 4n in Botswana; 2n in Zimbabwe

"The title is perhaps a little harsh. But in comparison to the Wilderness Safari lodges we had stayed in, this privately run conservancy was our least favourite lodge. Not however that there was any lack of good animal sightings, far from it. But it was poorly managed, notably in the check in and the restaurant service.

On arrival I was asked to write my email address into no less than three separate forms and there seemed to be masses of paperwork to fill in. The restaurant service was regularly poor, and at times there were no staff attending to the needs of clients eating for maybe 10 minutes at a time. That is frustrating when there are drive deadlines to be met. Having said that, there are pluses too.

The Bush Lodge villas are comfortable and spacious if a little tired by reason of their age, and one had the feeling that Covid had hit this place hard and they were struggling to get back to normal. The place is a private fenced reserve of about 400sq. kms into which the notable introductions are leopard and white rhino.

The key drive is a leopard tracking drive, using some rather old fashioned looking UHF aerials to find the leopards, most of whom are collared. We spent almost three hours tracking without success in an overly full vehicle (seven guests, with those at the rear having a poor view) and had more or less given up hope before we found a male drinking at a waterhole and had an excellent few minutes with him at very close range. The animals are clearly very habituated to the vehicles so there is an element of artificiality about seeing them from such close quarters. Then on the way back to base we found a second male, by chance, with another good view. On other drives we were searching for rhino, with the number in the reserve a closely guarded secret. Our driver followed tracks and we seemed not to be having any luck when we came across first a large male, who obliged us with very good views as he searched the ground for the scent of his colleagues, four other males whom we eventually also found. Again they were undisturbed by the vehicle and walked by at very close quarters.

The other highlight was two sightings of bat-eared foxes out during the day which is unusual, and there were plenty of sightings of giraffe, zebra (including Hartmanns Mountain Z) kudu, eland, sable antelope small buck, oryx and wildebeest. Birds were good too and I was glad to have a guide who knew his birds. Other trips were less crowded and I did two drives on my own which is always good fun. Food was rather dull and uninspiring, and we heard others saying the same thing. The atmosphere of the place was nothing like as friendly or efficient as the Wilderness lodges, which may be an unfair comparison. There is a small swimming pool. One irritating feature of the set up is that there are some activities which are not included in even the full board price, including a night drive, and for which a £50 per head charge seems excessive. A pangolin hunt at night is even more expensive at £100, but there is a lot of tracking work involved in spotting these persecuted animals.

For anyone who like us had got accustomed to the high standards of the Wilderness Safari lodges in the more remote areas of the country, where the scenery is the main attraction, I would think this place would disappoint." See all these reviews: 17n in Namibia

"The mission at Okonjima has changed from rescuing/relocating big cats to educational efforts, but it still offers opportunities to see big cats up close and personal.

Large separate areas are set up for the lions and cheetahs on the reserve, while leopards roam the entire property. In addition, we saw a larger variety of animals here than on any other reserve on our Namibia trip.

But the highlight of our visit was in the AfriCat research center, where a tranquilized cheetah was brought in for a check-up. The new director invited other Okonjima staff and lucky visitors there at the time to crowd into the examination room and observe the process, then help staff groom the cheetah's matted fur coat. That experience will be remembered for a long time." See all these reviews: 15n in Namibia; 5n in South Africa

"The thatched chalets were beautiful with the main chalet having 2 double beds and the bathroom with plenty of windows in the front half overlooking the plains and a small water bath for birds.

On the other side of the path to the front door is a second chalet which is your open air living room with 2 comfortable looking stretch chairs looking towards the front, drink making facilities and fridge. There is also a container which has a jar of bird food which you can throw out to get a flurry of Guinea fowl visiting.

Having said all that, we were only there for one night and were barely in our room (beyond sleeping) which made it seem a bit of a waste.

We went for the leopard tracking both in the afternoon and the following morning and were successful each time." See all these reviews: 15n in Namibia

"Can’t wait to return! What a fantastic way to end our trip, our guide was excellent, he was very professional and funny too.

Our meals were the best on this trip, the staff was absolutely amazing and the dining area was ever so lovely. I loved our spacious room, and there were guinea fowls and wart hogs right outside at times.

We went for some lovely walks, and our morning drives were wonderful.

The rhino tracking activity was one of the highlights of this trip, and so was the sighting of a leopard who walked past our vehicle. We even saw one male rhino as we were leaving the camp on our last day, what a privilege!" See all these reviews: 13n in Namibia

"Same as previous comments" See all these reviews: 21n in Namibia

"We stayed in the Villa last time. The facilities in the Bush Camp were excellent.

Although there are lots of collared leopards, actually seeing one is not a done deal. We tracked at least 7 over two days and actually clapped eyes on two. They are not big animals and if they do not want to be seen, they will not be.

Very knowledgeable guide who, to quote "did his level best to find the leopards". He certainly did, with some outstanding off roading.

It is a little sad seeing the cheetahs living out their lives in compounds but we understand that when they tried in the past to release them into the reserve the local leopards killed them.

Although not guaranteed, you do have a very good chance of seeing leopard here." See all these reviews: 13n in Namibia; 1n in South Africa

"The rooms were very much to our liking." See all these reviews: 21n in Namibia