Reviews of Okonjima Plains Camp

"Informed at the gate that we had been upgraded from the main camp to bush camp, who were we to argue?

This camp was a highlight of the trip for us and a wonderful way to round off our travels before returning to Windhoek. Our chalet was superb, with views of the bush and it's own mini waterhole plus bird feeder. A night visit to the hide was included and we were lucky enough to see the honey badger as well as a bunch of very stroppy porcupines!

A morning cheetah tracking expedition by truck and on foot gave us sight of no less than six cheetahs plus a leopard. Our only regret was that we were spending only one night here." See all these reviews: 20n in Namibia

"This was our third stay at Okonjima and it was as good as ever.

We had fantastic sightings of cheetah, leopard and wild dogs. Staff were very friendly and helpful and we had a wonderful group of guides who shared their knowledge and love for the animals and catered for our requests. We are never disappointed by the quality of the guides at Okonjima and this year was no exception.

A wonderful stay and we will be going back for a fourth time." See all these reviews: 13n in Namibia; 1n in South Africa

"We had chosen Okonjima as our final camp in Namibia having seen and heard so much of this place famous for re-introducing cheetah into the wild, we were looking forward to this.

Our start was not a good one though as we'd been placed in garden room 1, the closest to the restaurant/lappa with no terrace or balcony and overlooked by all in camp. It was not the best of rooms as there was absolutely no privacy unless we closed our doors and curtains, After dinner smokers would gather outside of our room which was not pleasant. We felt imprissoned somewhat so expressed our views and thankfully were upgraded to a view room for our second night which was lovely.

If Expert Africa are sending clients here I would definetly insist that you do not want Garden Rooms 1 & 2, the other rooms in this area have much more space and some degree of privacy. Rooms aside we had some wonderful wildlife sightings and game drives allowing us to trek cheetah and wild dog "on foot".

The staff were pleasant and the food was good, so it all ended very well." See all these reviews: 12n in Namibia

"Overnight stop instead of Windhoek. In that respect obviously better than a B+B. However, I am not convinced about the conservation aspect of this endeavour. It seemed very much a make money from tourists scheme.

Wouldn't have wanted to stay more than one night

The most annoying part was that we were placed with others for dinner with no warning (and when there were tables for two). We expect this on safari, especially when groups will be sharing vehicles and need to get to know each other, but on our last night, we were looking for a bit of alone time and it would have been nice if someone had asked if we minded" See all these reviews: 13n in Namibia

"This was all and more than I expected. VERY experienced and knowledgable guides. Leopard,and Cheetah all over the place. We were lucky, but this was almost the highlight of a fascinating trip" See all these reviews: 12n in Namibia

"Our first day in Etosha included two black-backed jackals on a freshly dead springbok, and our last day in Namibia at Okonjima included seeing three cheetah devouring a young oryx they had killed an hour or so previously...and we got to see them on foot within 20 yards!

There was no room for us at Main Camp so we got an upgrade to Bush Camp!" See all these reviews: 13n in Namibia; 3n in Botswana

"We were lucky enough to be upgraded to Bush Camp at Okonjima - more luxurious, smaller and an even better setting. The lovely rooms were secluded and felt as though they were truly in the bush - we bumped into warthogs and oryx on the way to the lapa. The food (quantity and quality) was fantastic, and the staff were brilliant. Great pool too.

We tracked cheetahs by vehicle, then on foot, and not only got close to several, but also saw giraffes, zebras, oryx, impala, springboks, eland, warthogs, steenboks, and much more on the same trip. We watched porcupines scrap over the remains of our dinner from the night hide, and the next morning found a leopard who posed obligingly on a termite mound. Wonderful!" See all these reviews: 8n in Namibia

"In fact I was upgraded to Okonjima Bush Camp on my arrival.

The experience of tracking and finding cheetahs that had just made a kill on the first day, and a leopard on the second was one which I will long remember. My room was the best I stayed in on the whole trip (and there was some stiff competition), and the food was delicious.

My arrangements only included activities in the price for the day after I arrived, and the cost of those which I did on the first day was very reasonable. Finally, both my guides, Roan and Albert, were very good." See all these reviews: 20n in Namibia

"Okonjima Main Camp provided a splendid end to our holiday.

We were upgraded to a “View” chalet - spacious, with two double beds, panoramic windows, table and chairs, superior en-suite facilities and a porch looking at the adjacent patch of veld and its grazing warthogs. With a tin roof, the interior became hot as the day wore on. The internal electric fans were sufficient to relieve while we were there (in Spring), but the chalet might, we thought, become uncomfortable in Summer. During our second evening one of the beds was visited by some small ants so we transferred to the other.

On arrival, we were given an introduction to the facilities by one of the staff. She spoke engagingly, but obviously thought that we knew more of the Camp's style and its activities than we did. We felt as though we were being pushed into “activities”, whose agendas were not apparent to us. When we asked as to the latter, she said that our “guide” would decide – not very illuminating at the time, though she did say there would be either cheetah and leopard tracking, at the discretion of the guide. We would have preferred to have been provided with a written outline of the Camp's programmes and the modus operandi (with, by all means, a supplementary talk to bring it all to life).

As it turned out, we enjoyed it all. We found that we were, in effect, allocated a guide and personal sponsor for our stay. He ascertained our preferences and made arrangements accordingly. Normally, these entailed joining an excursion which he would lead (for which one would be billed on account – unless there under an all-inclusive tariff). A side-effect of this approach was that we were seated with other members of our excursion parties at dinner. We got on well with these fellow-guests and we enjoyed the company. We presumed – but never checked - that we could vary the seating arrangements, had this not been the case.

Our first “activity” started at around 4pm on the day of our arrival. It was a tour by 4WD shuttle of the AfriCat facilities, including the large enclosures for certain orphaned cheetah, leopard and caracal. While interesting – and an eye-opener for anyone who had not previously seen such cats – it was not, in our opinion the best activity available.

The next day we went on a leopard “hunt” after breakfast and a cheetah “hunt” around 4pm (after complimentary tea and cakes). Each excursion lasted approximately 3 hours, giving us the middle of the day to relax and to do our own thing (we initially contemplated one of the self-guided hikes at this time - but it was too hot for us). Our guide drove our parties of 4-6 persons in 4WD shuttles (with capacity for 8 guests) around the much larger expanse of Okonjima's bush terrain. Here roamed the cats and other wildlife, constrained only by many miles of outer perimeter fencing, encompassing hills, ridges and plains.

The cats were collared and traceable through radio receivers deployed by our guide. In this respect there was a degree of artificiality. However, the imprecision of the tracing equipment, the density of much of the bush, the off-roading and the distances involved combined to provide real prospects of failure and a thrill of hunt.

We were lucky. On our morning excursion, after much double-backing and circling through the thick bush, we tracked down a leopard still eating a fresh kill – a steenbok which she had dragged up a tree. In the afternoon, we quickly located a lone cheetah, loftily surveying its surrounds from a termite mound. Then, after a couple of hours (during which we saw giraffe and other plains-game, but no cats), we ran to ground three cheetah who had freshly killed a young zebra. Initially, all three cats stayed together at the kill. However, the routine changed as we watched. As one ate, the other two moved off a small distance to peer intently in another direction – prepared, as it turned out, to fend off the attentions of an approaching leopard who had smelled the kill.

In normal circumstances guests are permitted to disembark the shuttle in order to get closer to cheetah (but not leopard). In this case we were forced to get back into the vehicle hastily, after we heard the cough of the encroaching leopard and our guide was radioed by a colleague (who was tracking the leopard for his party from Okonjima Bush Camp). We found that the guides confer and collaborate during their respective excursions, in order to share discoveries and to improve the experiences of their parties. They were careful to avoid crowding. Thus, after we had finished with watching the three cheetah, we moved on to see the frustrated leopard (some 60m away through the bush, in the gathering dusk), while the party from Bush Camp moved from their primary “target” to view the cheetah.

On each evening, after a satisfying dinner, we opted to join a party to walk some 15 minutes via torchlight to the Camp's porcupine hide. Here the guide tossed down a basketful of vegetable remains into a floodlit area outside the hide, in order to lure the animals. On the first evening nothing showed up, except a jackal which quickly took fright and fled. A German guest asked if the porcupines existed. She had done the walk twice the previous year and this was the third occasion on which she had drawn a blank. However, the next night we went again (German girl too) and, within minutes, two large porcupines emerged from the bush to chomp their way steadily through the assorted chunks and peelings on offer." See all these reviews: 12n in Namibia; 3n in South Africa

"We arrived at 3.15pm and were welcomed by the host with a cold drink and introduced straight away to Pieter, our guide for the duration of our two-night stay. Being on full board basis, all activities were included and we had been allocated with another couple on a safari drive to track wild dogs which would leave as soon as we were ready! So we only had time for a quick freshen-up in our (lovely) room before clambering into a Landranger for an exhilarating drive to the far corner of the vast conservancy in search of these rare animals.

They did indeed prove difficult to find, even with radio tracking and it took an hour and twenty minutes to pick up their signal. When the signal was strong, Pieter told us he believed they were somewhere deep in the surrounding bush where there were no tracks to follow so he took us "off road" in the true sense of the word and bulldozed a way through! Being confident the wild dogs were close by, Pieter stopped the vehicle, turned the engine off and whistled to them. Amazingly, after a few moments four wild dogs came running towards us and stayed close to the Landranger for ten minutes before a nearby Oryx caught their attention.

Thankfully, they left it alone and headed off to a nearby water trough instead. After they departed we were invited off the vehicle for a sundowner and in the fading light it was a great way to conclude to a fantastic experience. The drive back to the Main Camp was in darkness so a spotlight was used to seek out other wildlife on the way. The long time taken to find the wild dogs meant that we were a little late back, with less than ten minutes before dinner which was served at 8 o'clock. We wanted to get changed and freshen up and it would appear that by the time we arrived at the restaurant, we had kept everyone else waiting for a few minutes as service doesn't start until all are seated!

We did not realise that dinner was a set menu with no choice of main course. This caused a problem because it was game sirloin and my wife, on principle, will not eat game. After speaking to our waiter, the kitchen staff offered chicken as an alternative. Problem solved! Unfortunately, when it arrived the breaded chicken fillet looked like it had been cooked inside a blast furnace. It was burnt to a crisp and tasteless. The game meat wasn't bad but I didn't ask what it was. The vegetables to accompany our meal were spinach, diced sweet potato and a small jacket potato. The portions were quite small.

Dessert was supposed to be pear crisp but all that was served up was a peeled pear with cream. The pear was quite firm and a spoon would not cut through it. Everyone was having the same problem, chasing their pears around their plates! Eventually knives were brought out but they were not much use either. Finally, some forks appeared but overall this was a pretty poor meal. At least we were able to help ourselves to tea and coffee.

The following morning we were taken out early to track some cheetahs and this time it was just the two of us with Pieter plus another member of the team for safety. Unusually, for September, the morning was very overcast and we experienced a brief shower of rain. The cheetahs were proving to be as difficult to find as the wild dogs but at 8 o'clock three of them were spotted in a wide clearing. Pieter stopped the vehicle and invited us to climb down. We walked, slowly, in single file towards them and they didn't seem at all phased by our presence. They had picked up the scent of some Wildebeest and started walking. We walked with them, albeit from about 50 feet away and it was fantastic! Soon realising that a herd of Wildebeest was not a realistic target, they stopped.

We walked back to our Landranger but in the meantime the cheetahs had turned their attention to something else. Pieter drove a little closer and noticed two or three kudus browsing amongst the trees. They were aware of some danger but couldn't see what. The cheetahs were laying down watching the kudus and it looked like they were going to pick one of them off. I had previously told Pieter that we did not want to witness a kill but I suppose that if he had started the engine and moved away, that would have caused a distraction which may have deprived the cheetahs of a meal. We were very anxious but thankfully, after half an hour and a couple of clear opportunities missed, the kudus wandered off and the cheetahs lost interest.

We returned to Main Camp for a brunch, effectively a late breakfast and this was really good. In addition to the usual buffet selection there was a menu of hot food which was cooked to order on a grill set up in the garden. Brunch is normally served instead of lunch because of the early morning activities but if you arrive in the early afternoon a lunch will be offered. As we arrived too late the day before, we were offered a lunch today at a time to suit us. Unfortunately it turned out to be the chicken again, just as burnt and tasteless!

In the afternoon we finally had the opportunity to enjoy our "view" room, so called as it had a fabulous view out over adjoining grasslands where some oryx were grazing. We could also see warthogs and the occasional black-backed jackal (being seen off by the warthogs!), all of this being viewed whilst enjoying the warm sunshine in comfortable chairs on our veranda!

There are two types of rooms offered at Main Camp and I would strongly recommend the View rooms over the Garden rooms as the latter, whilst looking cosy and surrounding a pretty garden are very close to the restaurant and reception so do not enjoy the privacy that the View rooms have. The View rooms may look basic from the outside but they are enormous and extremely comfortable with all the facilities you need including a fridge. A square to round pin adaptor was available at reception so that we could use our hairdryer.

Our next scheduled activity (after coffee and cake) was a leopard-tracking safari, this time with seven other guests. Sightings of these wonderful big cats are not guaranteed and Pieter did have trouble tracking down a female leopard that he was after. After almost an hour an a half we found her laying down in a ditch amongst dense thicket. She was so well camouflaged that even from about 25 feet away most of the group couldn't see her but she could definately see us! Pieter explained that anyone on their own, exposed, in this situation would be killed very quickly.

This leopard was impossible to photograph but there was a signal from another leopard, this time a male, nearby. It took another half an hour to spot him because he was moving around. The sun had set and the light was fading when Pieter was finally able to position the vehicle to intercept this magnificent animal. It stood still, curious of our presence, just long enough for us to grab some pictures before disappearing into the bush once more. We were certainly lucky as another party out looking for leopards had no success!

With everyone happy, we were driven to a clearing to enjoy another sundowner. This was the last day of our holiday and what a way to end it! After enjoying our drinks amongst the incredible stillness and silence of the Savannah, we embarked on another night-time safari back to main camp.

Dinner that night was, once again, game sirloin which didn't show much imagination. However, we had already asked for an alternative during the day and were promised fish which was beautifully cooked. This was enjoyed with an excellent bottle of sauvignon blanc. The dessert was much better this time, a rather good creme brulee but because of earlier poor experiences I have marked the food overall as only average. Sorry!

After dinner we went to a nearby hide where food scraps were put out for the nocturnal animals but the hoped-for honey badgers and porcupines proved elusive. Only a jackal appeared but didn't seem interested and quickly trotted off into the night. We were entitled to another activity, an early morning search for hyena but we declined it as we wanted the time to pack before our flight home.

Overall, Okonjima is an excellent place to stay although it is quite expensive. We were happy to stay there as we wanted to support the work of the AfriCat Foundation and would certainly pay return visit. We were told that rhino and even lions are to be introduced when the conservancy expands even further." See all these reviews: 15n in Namibia