MisterAviator

In doing some research for an upcoming trip to Namibia I found this excellent new movie on Okonjima's website:

http://www.okonjima.com/site/okonjimamovie.html

It's one of the best videos I've seen on a lodge's website. Enjoy!

Lillipets

Thank you! What a great video! Now I know what to watch when I need my next "fix." And I think I might see if they need volunteers. If I can draw blood from a fractious 10 lb cat, working on a BIG cat will be a snap!
Lily

MisterAviator

You're welcome Lily!

Also, can anyone post their review of Okonjima? Is the luxury "Bush Camp" worth the extra cost?

Treepol

I stayed at the Bush Camp at Okonjima Lodge for 2 nights in early November 2005. It was a splurge to finish up my wonderful 2 months in East and South Africa.

Elena Travel arranged my transfer from Windhoek and I arrived in time for lunch. The accommodation is in discretely spaced bandas with a lounge area and separate shower and separate toilet. Large wooden pots of bird seed are provided and in quiet moments between activities it is fun to throw the seed outside the banda and watch the birds - they were only one metre from where I was sitting. Among the regular visitors were golden breasted bunting, crimson breasted shrike, southern masked weaver and acacia pied barbet. I also saw a Namaqaland dove.

Afternoon tea was an elaborate affair with choice of teas, including iced tea, coffee and cold juices. There were hot savouries and a choice of cakes and pastries.

My first afternoon activity was leopard tracking (in vehicles) and we managed to find the female leopard and her 2 ten month old cubs. We were also fortunate to visit the clinic where an injured cheetah was having a broken leg set. While he was unconscious we were able to observe him from close quarters and even touch him - this was a wonderful experience.

Dinner was 3 courses and just a little bit formal. The food was delicious and the cook provided me with a chicken entree to replace the fish dish on the menu. After dinner most people go up to the night hide where it is possible to view porcupines and honey badgers as they compete for kitchen scraps. The staff are forever optimistic of a visit from a leopard or a brown hyena, and I was very lucky to visit on the night that a leopard came to the hide, not once but twice. There was a very amusing interaction between this female leopard and a honey badger when she slunk up the badger who was engrossed in devouring a meat scrap -he looked up to find himself almost nose to nose with a leopard. He seemed to rise up and backwards at the same time and backed away, reversing into a tree and then carefully moving around it, keeping his eyes on the leopard until it was safe to turn and run.

The next morning I did the cheetah tracking activity (on foot) and we successfully located 4 cheetah in the rehabilitation area of the reserve, managing to get within about 8-10 metres of them. The previous day's group had got as close as 3 metres, but they were a bit skittish on the morning I was there. Breakfast was at 10 am, followed by free time to be spent at the pool, the guest lounge, exploring one of the marked walking tracks or relaxing in the banda.

Afernoon tea was another delicious spread followed by the afternoon's activity that included a visit to the Africat offices to learn of their work followed by cheetah feeding. There were 9 cheetah that could never be released into the wild as they couldn't fend for themselves and these were fed each day in their special enclosure of about 45 acres by Africat staff. They came all around the vehicle and provided us with another memorable wildlife experience. We returned for another wonderful dinner and a return trip to the night hide. Unfortunately, it was the porcupines and honey badgers only, however, as this is the only time I have seen these animals and I was very happy to watch them again.

As I was leaving before the morning activities concluded, Dean, the senior guide arranged for me to go to the lion lapa at the Main Camp where I was able to stay for lion feeding after everyone else had left for morning activities. Nothing special, but it was an appropriate memory with which to depart Okonjima.

There is a good article in Travel Africa (Summer 2005) that gives more details of Africat and Okonjima Lodge.

All in all, I thought the Bush Camp and Africat were great and I plan to return again as part of a 3 month trip I am planning for 2007, or more likely 2008 due to work commitments.

Cheers,

Polly.

bat

Polly:
Thanks for the great detail.

dlo

I think this cements my decision to go here in 2008 as well.

Thanks for the report.