Ongava Lodge

We had two nights here as part of our Ultimate Safaris guided tour of Namibia. The lodge is remotely located, very well appointed with fantastic deck, lounge, dining areas, pool and wildlife viewing hide of waterhole. Food was excellent, service fantastic. We really enjoyed the guided rhino walk - so amazing to be so close to a white rhino on foot. Saw elephants, rhino and lots of wildlife from the lodge deck overlooking floodlit waterhole. Our cottage was fantastic - spacious, well appointed and very comfortable. Highly recommend.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Ongava Lodge. We learned a lot about the animals, loved seeing them up close at the view hide, enjoyed the museum, experienced a special breakfast, and overall loved the food. It was a relaxing, peaceful place with beautiful spa experiences (our travel friends loved that part though we preferred to simply relax by the pool). We only wish it had a few more walking paths or a gym.

We loved this experience. The property has an incredible rhino conservation program so if you want to see and learn about rhinos / this is the place! The lodge has been around a long time and blends into the environment well/ no needs for upgrades as I read - it’s all perfectly modern in the right ways. The team is amazing with incredible guides (thanks sem!!) They will take you to the park which is amazing to see - but we loved the reserve the most.

This resort is a very nice lodge in a great location,ie next to the Etosha National Park. We arrived late afternoon and left early the next morning, so didn't really time to enjoy the amenities. The welcome was very warm. The lounge and dining area were very open and lovely. The room was large and very comfortable. We would have liked to spend more time there.

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.