Ongava Lodge

Over the years we have stayed in many luxury safari lodges in Southern and Eastern Africa and Ongava was a big disappointment. Dinner was mediocre, the game drive vehicle old and we were served instant coffee on the morning game drive. For the rate charged by Ongava we expected the same level of excellence provided by other lodges in this rate category.

There are some good and some not so good aspects to this lodge. It is on a private reserve just outside Etosa and it is fenced. Although it's a large reserve, the fence takes away the uncertainty of what you are going to experience. Also, the reserve is generally very scrubby, so that animal sighting are not in the most attractive settings. We did a number of games drives over 3 nights of our stay and generally struggled to find animals. There are Rhinos in the reserve (and that alone might be the attraction for some people), but other animals seems to be few and far between. We saw two elephants a few giraffe and small groups of Zebra, Wildebeest and Springbok. There was a pride of Lions, which was good to see. It's really the setting and the low density of animals that was the disappointment for the game drives. The water hole in front of the lodge is just as good as the game drive. We spent a day in Etosa (a short drive from the Lodge) and although this is an open, much larger area, it is a national park so it is much busier, with no off-road driving and no leaving the jeep. The combination of games drives around Ongava and the southern part of Etosa were, by comparison with other games drives in Africa, disappointing. The lodge itself is good. I would not say very good, as it just misses too many small additions that characterise the best lodges. In general, I'd say there was a lack of attention to detail. If you go to stay at the lodge and forget about wildlife viewings (or are satisfied by the Rhinos) then this lodge maybe good for you. We did meet other people on our travels who had stayed here and loved it. It won't be for everybody.

Spent 3 nights during June-end into early-July 2024. Here are my thoughts. THE ULTIMATE REALIZATION. Ask yourself why are you going to this region: is it for Ongava reserve or is it for Etosha National park? If the former, then this is a choice for you (with poor service); if the later, then stay elsewhere. EXCURSIONS. Truly poor unless your haven't done your research or your only interest is Ongava reserve (with lions, rhinos, and various antelopes, birds). It is more than enough to spend a few hours in the evening of the arrival day and the morning of departure day in the Ongava reserve. However they try to sell multiple game drives on their reserve where you see the same set of animals (fore our case, white rhinos and a lion family with 4 cubs, and those were the only lions in the reserve according to the guides) in different locations. The white rhinos were introduced here by the owners of the reserve and they sell these rhinos to other reserves. So the Ongava reserve is really a half-zoo at best. Their Etosha excursion is a joke as they do only a half-day excursion there in the south central part where you see very little. We asked for, negotiated successfully for a full day (7:00a-5:00p) excursion to Etosha. The other-worldly game viewing was at the very west end, roughly about 100kms west of their normal route. The vehicles here are in poor shape, ours broke down wasting full two hours. So choose this lodge if you are interested in Ongava reserve only. FACILITIES. Good but not upscale. The dining area and rooms 1, 2, 3 have great views of the watering hole (we were lucky to be in room 1). The design/location of the outdoor shower is bad with almost no privacy. Your entire balcony (and the part of your room close to balcony) will have full view of your outdoor shower. So forget using it if your kid(s) is/are in your room. Using the indoor shower will flood the bathroom floor. Our mosquito net had holes. Lots of dust on the carpet in the room. Not enough electrical outlets to charge devices. FOOD. bad! Breakfast and lunch are kind of scams. You start the day with stone-cold tasteless mini muffins & yogurt. Then there is brunch menu (between 11:00-1:00) where the menu is nothing but eggs, sausage, and beacons. Then there is pool menu (between 1:00-3:00). This menu is limited to potato-chip-sized open-face sandwich and salad. So what is the scam? Your guide will make sure that you do not come back for the brunch menu. So after that mini muffin you will only get the pool menu. No real lunch, no real breakfast. Dinner is average. Selection of included alcohol is limited. The bar staff have never heard of espresso martini. SERVICE. Poor. No one knows you by name. At every meal you get asked room number. Assistant manager LeRoy personally confirmed our preference for vegetarian food upon arrival. Yet we were provided with beacons in our boxed lunch. No one in the lodge said 'bye' at departure. Housekeeping took away soiled towels but did not

The reason I have given this review 3* is because our whole experience here was average. The lodge itself was excellent as was our room, spacious and very comfortable. The lodge has a beautiful setting with wonderful views, it also has a watering hole which is great for viewing the wildlife and unfortunately that’s where we saw most of the wildlife that there was to see. When we arrived we were welcomed by lovely Delamina and offered a wet towel to wipe our hands. Subsequent welcomes by staff after returning from a game drive were non existent or an afterthought with wet towels left on a pillar to help ourselves. Apart from Delamina not one member of staff including the manager and other assistant manager introduced themselves. They lacked the warmth that we have experienced in other lodges in Namibia and Africa as a whole, it was as if they were just going through the motions. Our guide Samual was a lovely young man but seemed to have no experience at all with guiding, driving yes but guiding no. He lacked the knowledge that other guides have and it was as if he was an apprentice without a teacher. We also spent 2 days driving around with a flat tyre. The lodge is close to Etosha National Park but our experience in the park was awful because a) our guide lacked experience and b) it’s a national park with no regulation so if there was an animal to see you were parked at the sighting with 20 other cars. Personally it was a wasted day for us. Would I recommend this place? No because Ongava park lacked animals, Etosha is awful and the staff and guides need more training.

Fantastic wildlife experience. The lodge rooms are comfortable and well maintained with luxury bathrooms and stylish fittings. Private terraces for dreaming and nature watching. The communal spaces are designed to make the most of the vista and views of the busy waterhole. The hide next to the waterhole is such a cool feature. Unbelievable views of animals coming to drink and interact. All the staff are so friendly and professional and the food is delicious.

Beautiful cabins positioned well away from others.. great big bed with gorgeous mosquito net fabulous outdoor shower ( indoor too should you so choose)… great bathroom products, biscuits and plentiful water. Huge open deck perched over the valley looking down to the waterhole. Great staff friendly and welcoming. A very nice dinner and breakfast. The best thing about the lodge is the hide… a fantastic opportunity to sit quietly and view the wildlife from only a several few meters away. In total we saw 14 black Rhinos!