Reviews of Okonjima Bush Camp
(97%) From 219 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
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True highlight of trip
What an amazing place. We had our own house to stay in. From the patio one could watch animals all day long. The birds come visiting and want one to put out birdseed, which is provided. Once one obliges one gets a true bird picnic. The Monteiro's hornbill is the clear ringleader. Meals are quite tasty. Again, very nice staff.
The activities were awesome. We encountered a leopard who had dragged his warthog dinner into a tree and was munching on it. He then came down and we surprised each other driving right past him, got some good closeups of a surprised looking leopard. We visited with cheetahs, who were in a mellow mood and purred like huge house cats. We saw a family of giraffes. And one of baboons. Lots of different antelopes - kudu, oryx, Springbok, duiker, impala, eland, the usual jackals.
A visit to the Africat Foundation was quiet interesting. Our guide was knowledgeable and interesting to talk with. After dinner we went on a night hike and from a blind watched hyenas having their dinner.
Truly a great experience!
Wonderful time at Okonjima
What a fantastic experience we had. This is an interesting place, with good opportunities to see cheetahs and leopards, but also learning about their conservation work as well. Fascinating and well worth the visit. And its not just about the big cats - on the first evening we saw a Honey Badger (very rare) and a Gabard Hawk catching a Dove mid flight.
On the second day we saw all 3 kinds of small antelope in about half an hour, on also saw baboons, which are relatively rare in that area. . We caught up with leopards and cheetah - and while they are wearing tracking collars, the animals are still completely wild, roaming in a reserve the size of Surrey, and hunting for their own food. Wonderful trip trekking with the cheetah - a terrific experience.
Daniel our guide was excellent - very patient with our endless questions. There is a Hide there as well - and just as we were leaving it 2 porcupine turned up, once again an animal in the wild we had not seen before. Thoroughly recommend a trip there and supporting the amazing work done by the Africat Foundation.
Accommodation at Bush Camp is excellent - in a thatched lodge with a separate"day" room - where you can throw out grain and seeds to the animals and birds and they come to you !!
Maximize your stay at Okonjima
This camp was superb and we only wished we had booked our stay here for longer than one night - this is top of our list for a return visit and warrants a stay of at least 2 nights to participate in all the activities. We stayed in Chalet 9 which can only be described as pure indulgence and exceeded all our expectations.
The leopard tracking with Head Guide, Rohan, was fantastic and we were lucky enough to observe a male leopard with its kill being stalked by two scavenging brown hyenas only feet from where we were seated, in addition to the other wildlife we encountered en-route.
Staff were exemplary - friendly and helpful and went out of their way to assist. The evening meal was excellent and our only disappointment would be that we had an early start for our drive to the airport and the breakfast choice was very unappealing and limited (yoghurt, bread and coffee) and no fresh fruit, juices, cheese or meat platter, or cooked food available or offered to us before we left.
Okonjima Bush Camp
The highlight of our trip! They call it a bush camp, but the rondavels are amazing, each with a separate "sitting room" open to the bush in front with seed to feed the guinea fowl, warthogs and hornbill birds.
Our guide was the chief guide for the whole of Okonjima/Africat. A gentle giant of a man from Zimbabwe called Previous. We had several drives with him including tracking cheetah on foot and seeing leopard. We were privileged to witness their two lion being fed.
They are kept there mainly to show/educate local children the importance of respecting their native wildlife. This is true for the Africat organisation.
Lovely Camp
Lovely accommodation. Apart from your chalet you have a TV room style viewing point next door with fridge and refreshments.
Although you are at ground level there is a beautiful view with animals and birds in sight.
Amazing place to see leopards and cheetah. The guides have tracking devices and seem to find them most times.
There is a trip to a hide at night where you can view the animals very closely.
Lovely pool area for some downtime which you need with the early mornings.
A comfortable start. Just right.
Okonjima is easy to get to, tarmac roads and fully signposted as you arrive. The bungalows are large, very private and well furnished with a kitchenette, bathroom, sitting area, and room outside. There's a lovely outlook over grazing game, and a personal mini-waterhole to attract the birds and the likes of warthog. Also a personal bag of bird seed. The reception area/restaurant is equally pleasant. We regretted only being able to get one night's stay.
The leopard tracking activity let us see plenty of game - as well as the leopards. It might be a bit 'unreal', but it wasn't a bad way to start. The night drive to a hide produced a Brown Hyena, but was otherwise rather more effort than it was worth. The early morning cheetah tracking was much like the leopard. It was nice to do some of this on foot. And, again, there were plenty of other things to see. I thought our guide was very professional in his work, something that you could apply to all the staff.
Perfect and memorable
Superb.
Not a national park but still great viewing of leopards, cheetah, brown hyenas and pircupines.
Luxurious accommodation, great guide and wonderful staff.
Okonjima Bush Camp review
Amazing rooms - although coming here from Etosha (where we stayed in the NP itself not at a private lodge) it was a bit overwhelming.
Great game drives - the driver certainly pushed the vehicle to its limits.
And an opportunity to get right up close to cheetah. Sadly we saw no leopards.
