Ongava Private Game Reserve

The Ongava Game Reserve is an exclusive 68,000 acre private game reserve situated along the southern boundary of Etosha National Park, Namibia's premier wildlife reserve. Etosha offers good comprehensive game-viewing, as well as expansive views across the vast salt pans which dominate the center of the Park.

Ongava Game Reserve provides the full Etosha experience, but at the same time offers luxurious accommodation and the opportunity to partake in night drives and nature walks on the private reserve, activities which are not allowed within Etosha National Park.

 Morning activities take place in Etosha, and guests are driven into the Park in specially-adapted open-sided safari vehicles by their specialist guide. Several hours are spent exploring the Park, its wildlife, and the spectacular salt pans that stretch endlessly away to the horizon. Afternoon activities are conducted on Ongava's own private game reserve, and guests can choose between game drives, nature walks, or relaxing and observing animals from hides.

The absolute highlight at Ongava is the reserve's rhinos, which are very relaxed around people, and allow for fabulously close encounters - there probably isn't anywhere else in Africa where these gentle giants are so unafraid of humans in the wild, and where one is able to approach so close on foot. Being outside the National Park, night-drives can also be undertaken.

Little Ongava Lodge offers the most exclusive accommodation on the Reserve. Each of the three spacious suites integrates seamlessly with the natural environment and commands a private view of the waterhole and the plains beyond. Relax in your own infinity horizon plunge pool, luxuriate with both indoor and outdoor bathroom and shower facilities, and siesta in your private sala, tucked away in a rock formation. The dedicated main area, for the exclusive use of Little Ongava's guests, lends itself to relaxed, stylish dining under the African sky.

Ongava Lodge accommodates a maximum of twenty-eight guests in fourteen chalets nestled into a terraced hillside, with the main lodge crowning the top. The chalets are spacious, cool and solidly built out of brick and thatch. They are cleanly and attractively decorated with white bed linen, long muslin curtains and billowy mosquito nets. Each has a private wooden balcony, with wonderful views. There is also an inviting swimming pool to cool off in the heat of the day. Meals are either served in the main dining area under thatch with a view over the camp's waterhole, or on the dining deck under the stars.

Ongava Tented Camp offers an intimate tented experience for a maximum of sixteen guests. Each Meru-style tent has full en-suite facilities - enclosed on all sides by a reed wall, but open to the African sky - as well as a small veranda. All tents, as well as the communal bar, swimming pool and dining room area, face a very active watering hole, offering great game-viewing without even leaving camp.

Ongava is the perfect base for experiencing the Etosha eco-system. It combines the beauty and wildlife of the National Park with the privacy and exclusivity of a private reserve. Furthermore, standards of accommodation, food, and service are noticeably higher than at any other lodges in the area, and Little Ongava is arguably the most stylish and luxurious safari lodge in Namibia.