Ongava Lodge

Ongava Lodge provided a great entry to Etosha National park - plus the experience of seeing animals on the Ongava lands. Our guide Sylvanus was great company and did a wonderful job finding animals and giving us lots of information. The accommodation was lovely and spacious with the wonderful advantage of viewing animals from our chalet. All staff were welcoming and we also enjoyed having the pool to cool off in. We highly recommend Ongava for a great experience getting up close to lots of animals.

My family had a fantastic stay at ongava . The staff, particularly Ismail , anticipated our every need . It was a true luxury The game drives were always amazing and our guide , Sylvanos , was incredibly knowledgeable about the animals as well as the fluora and fauna . He even found a spitting cobra - the man spotted everything. The black rhino and baby as well as the pride of lions at the watering hole were the cherries on top . !

It really is hard to overstate how impressed we were with our experience staying at Ongava. Food, service and staff were excellent. The main lodge is stunning and in a great spot which provides excellent views across an expansive reserve. The main watering hole with the photographic hide provided an unmissable opportunity for viewing and photographing wildlife up close. Our room was very luxurious and impeccably clean. The absolute highlight however was the game drives (especially the sundowners) and on foot elephant and rhino approaches with our guide Salathied - a true gent who was super knowledgeable, accommodating and provided us with an experience we’ll treasure and remember forever. Thank you Ongava and Salad for making our safari holiday 😊

There is so much potential for this lodge to become quite perfect, but it is not unfortunately. And it would all be forgiven if this was a mid range lodge, but it is quite an expensive luxury lodge so expectations are just higher. Let’s start with the positives: fantastic location, waterhole with viewing hole is great and the food was nice. Our guide Kapona was also quite good. Now for the points of improvements: we got the impression that staff is just not trained properly. Although nobody was not nice, everyone lacked the friendliness and smiles we are used to for african lodges in general. We really had the feeling most staff did not want to be there. It is just completely lacking the nice details of hospitality of nice lodges. Some examples (some are of course very minor details, but it just adds up): - wet towels after game drives are provided, but put on a pilar. Nobody is there to welcome you back, ask how it was and to hand the towel to you (or make sure nobody puts a used one on top of the others). Sometimes there were not enough. - dietary requirements are being asked on check in but completely ignored afterwards (we send back food on 3 different occasions) - the towels to dry your hands in the public restrooms were not refilled often enough. - The public restrooms did not lock causing some awkward situations with other guests. - At some point one of the staff members accidentally spilled lemonade over a camera. Apologies were given, but we had to ask for a towel to dry the camera and no manager came to ask what happened. -We saw some guests arriving looking around bewildered because nobody was in the restaurant to greet them. - an absolute no go for me: staff was looking at some videos on their phone with the sound on in the guests area. This is very annoying if other guests do this (earphones people..) but just a no go for staff in my opinion. - and probably the worst thing: one of our party members fell down walking to the car when we were leaving. We were in the parking lot for about 15 minutes taking care of him. Nobody came to help.

This was our second accommodation for Etosha National Park, on the south western Andersson gate. We loved it!!!! We had two amazing chalets, very comfortable and thought out spaces - great mix of Safari camping and luxury chalet. The restaurant and pool overlook a waterhole which is lit up at night to watch the animals. Black and white rhino along with giraffe, zebra and antelope used this waterhole while we were there. They also have an amazing ‘viewing hide’ next to the waterhole for close viewing which was breathtaking. 100% an unmissable place to stay! Amazing game drive in their own reserve gave an incredible lion viewing experience too!

This was our second visit to Ongava Lodge and it was wonderful when we were greeted “back home” by the some of the staff who recognised us, especially the bubbly Ruth. We stayed in room 2 again which has a great view of the waterhole - it was fabulous to see up to 8 rhino there a couple of evenings, even in the middle of the night. The evening meals were just as good as last time with plenty of choices for starters, main and dessert and all cooked well. Wine and beer prices are also reasonable. The only issue we had was with breakfast. The team lay out the cakes, bread, yogurt and fruit with limited covers, and have to put additional napkins over the top to stop the birds attacking the food. We very often found bird poo on tables and over the edges of plates and bowls, which was bit unhygienic. The whole scenario becomes even more difficult to manage when the wind is howling across the plain and straight into the restaurant, which it was doing when we were there. Apart from that minor issue, the stay was excellent as it had been last year. We went on a sundowner drive and got out the vehicle to approach a male elephant on foot, all under the watchful eye of Kapona our guide. It was good to hear how much conservation work they are doing on the reserve, especially with the rhino. You are also right next to Anderson Gate for Etosha so you can drop into the park and do your own self-drives too

A lovely lodge right outside Okakeujo gate. Rooms are larhe but fairly average given the price you're paying, but the waterhole that is overlooked by the restaurant and bar is exceptional. Honestly, no need to go for a game drive here as you will see much game (plenty of rhinos, giraffe elephant, buck). We did a game drive and saw 1 rhino and baby (which were the same 2 we'd seen at the waterhole), so cannot recommend. Food was good. Lodge is unfenced so you will need to be escorted to your rooms between disk and dawn. Pool was ok.

The Ongava Lodge was very nice and the people their were very friendly and helpful. They have a large water hole for the animals to drink from, which you can view from their dining area or a private nature view room close to the water hole, but protected from the animals. We saw lions, rhinos, kudus, springbok, and elephants drinking from the water hole. It was really great. the room was nice, and after dark you are guided to your room with a guide with a rifle. A rhino was literally within 3 feet of our lodge room one night. The only negative is it is not handicap friendly. There are many many steps to go up and down a few times a day. No elevator or any other method to get to your room, other then the stairs. If that is no problem for you, this place is perfect to stay at.

This lodge surprised us in a few ways. One, there are many uneven steps from the parking area up the crest and down to the lodge, then down to the rooms. While the lodge boasts that it’s set on a hill, it did not state there are many tricky steps. They do not have handrails throughout as they should, so accessibility was a bit of challenge for our friends. Second, the meal options were limited and unappealing for us. One lunch, for example, was caramelized cauliflower croquettes with chimichurri sauce; salad of black beans, zucchini, spinach, green beans and onions or chicken tacos with slaw, pickled onions. That was the entire menu. However, I discovered I could ask for pasta and veggies. Third, Ongava is touted for its watering hole. Well, during our visit in May, it seemed to us to be a puddle at best, viewed from the lodge’s extensive decks. However, it was a great magnet for wildlife! Elephants, kudu, lions and rhinos came to drink during our two nights, including a lioness with cubs at 5 a.m. one day. Ongava has an excellent hide, from where you can see the watering puddle and creatures close-up. It’s a bit of a hike to get there, down the steps and over rough planks for maybe a quarter of a mile. We dashed from meals twice, panting both ways. We met some return visitors who come because of this watering puddle! The rooms were fairly roomy but motel-like (not luxurious), with a desk, coffee maker (no fridge), closet and shelves. The bathroom was roomy but the shower sprayed all over (and there was a small outdoor shower, too.) We were in room 2 and had views of the puddle from the porch and bathroom. They put down mosquito netting over the beds at night, which were tricky to maneuver to get to the bathroom. The lounge area was large and comfy; there was a good-sized pool, where some guests were sun-bathing. Ongava had more rhinos than we've ever seen in one place. We were told Etosha had relocated them to Ongava as a more secure environment. During our afternoon drive in the Ongava Game Reserve, the driver was very excited about finding an elephant. We were amused as we had seen many many ellies in other camps before this. After a few hours seeing many rhinos and hunting for leopards, we heard a lion pack was spotted and we “Ferrari safaried” across the park. As dusk fell, we found the pack, and were not even 10 feet away from four young lions frolicking on a tree branch. This was probably the closest we’ve even been to active (vs dozing) lions! Our drive into Etosha the next morning was, for us, a bust. It was our first trip to Namibia so we felt we had to visit its premiere park. But in May, there was limited wildlife at the watering holes, which are the highlights of the park. And it seemed we had to drive long, bumpy distances between them on the main road. Based on our previous experiences throughout Africa, even our Namibia tour expert had suggested it wouldn’t be worth our time. Obviously, others will report different,