Anderssons at Ongava Game Reserve bordering Etosha

By Roxanne Reid
Life should be made of moments like these. We’re on the deck overlooking the natural bush of northern Namibia at dawn. A pink sunrise unravels through the clouds as a jackal yelps in the distance and a spurfowl chuck-chucks nearby. We’re at Anderssons at Ongava Game Reserve bordering Etosha; our day of wild immersion has just begun.

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​The 30 000-hectare private Ongava Game Reserve adjoins Etosha National Park and shares a common boundary. Not surprisingly, therefore, Ongava is known as a Namibian safari destination. The newest camp, properly called Anderssons at Ongava, is named after Swedish explorer Charles Andersson who was one of the first two Europeans to ‘discover’ Etosha Pan back in 1851.

The bar area with a view of the waterhole to the right

The main area
The public relaxing areas of Anderssons almost melt into the surrounding landscape, with swathes of open-air but under-cover seating areas. The colours reflect the tones of the winter bush. African masks and beaded aviary-style lamp shades in one corner continue the colour theme, while a red, white and blue beaded chair (many hours of work) is a fun departure. 

The dining area

​A sunken row of couches forms a viewing gallery in front of the waterhole, and there are thick wooden beams doing service as a bar and a buffet table in the dining room.

Lounge and sunken gallery

Pride of place are the waterhole and an underground photographic hide where you can enjoy the wildlife without intruding – but more about that later. ​A swimming pool also has a stellar view of the waterhole, so there’s no need to miss moments with the visiting animals.

​Suites
With their natural stone exterior and low curved roofs, the suites hunker down to blend into the environment. Each has a deck with a 180-degree view of passing game tracks that lead to the waterhole in the main area, so there’s an excellent chance of spotting game from the moment you wake in the morning. We watched a springbok and its lamb nibbling grass one morning, a jackal on another. Privacy/shade screens made of wooden slats can be adjusted to your liking.

Bedroom with a view

Inside, it’s all blond wood – the bed, the cupboards and the curved roof beams – with cream-coloured floors and calm blue accents. The overall feel is of spaciousness, even in the indoor shower that’s big enough to dance in.

Part of the huge bathroom

An alternative outdoor shower with a view is a nice touch for hot summers. When we visited in May – the threshold of the so-called northern Namibian winter – the aircon in the suite was still a life-saver in 34-degree midday heat.

Anderssons at Ongava staff (from left) Elizabeth Kalimbuse, Monica Sakeus and Kelly Haoseb

Things to do at Ongava Game Reserve
Morning drive into Etosha
​Hop onto one of Ongava Game Reserve’s open safari vehicles at sunrise for a guided drive into Etosha National Park, right on your doorstep. When we visited in May 2019, Etosha – and indeed most of Namibia – was in the grip of a drought so dire that the President had just declared a State of Emergency. This area usually gets 400mm of rain a year, but there was a drought the previous year too. This year they had 80mm but too late for grass seeds to germinate, so the veld was parched and barren. There are some great waterholes in easy reach of Ongava, however, such as Okaukuejo (with its in-camp waterhole), Nebrownii, Homob and even Okondeka. You will probably spot giraffe, black-faced impala, warthog, kudu, zebra, wildebeest, springbok and oryx and, if you’re lucky, perhaps even lion or elephant.

Afternoon drive on the reserve

Lions at Ongava

An afternoon drive on the Ongava reserve itself is also worthwhile. There are some 100 different mammal species here, including white and black rhino (Ongava means rhino), lion, elephant, leopard, giraffe, black-backed jackal, Burchell’s zebra, wildebeest, springbok, black-faced impala, oryx and Damara dik-dik. We watched giraffe feeding on the high tree tops, found lions relaxing in the late afternoon sun, saw elephants munching in a patch of greenery. We also saw jackals, wildebeest, oryx, waterbuck and birds like kori bustard, Ruppell’s korhaan and ostrich.

​Shortly before the sun set below the mopane trees, we found a crash of white rhinos feeding – six adults and two young calves. We listened to them snorting and grunting at each other when they thought they weren’t getting their fair share, the little ones’ squeaks sounding vaguely whale-like. Not bad seeing three of the Big Five on a single afternoon drive.

The drive came to a close with gin and tonics in an open area to enjoy the sunset light show before returning to camp for dinner.

Spend time at the camp’s waterhole
When you’re not out on game drive or walks, spend time in the comfort of the main area with an eye on the waterhole. There’s a long sunken gallery where you can have front row seats at the waterhole without blocking the view of people in the lounge or dining room. We saw kudu, zebra, springbok, black-faced impala and warthog during the day here, and white rhinos drinking at night. Lions and elephants visit too. If you forget to bring your binos, you can wrestle other guests to share a standing spotting scope.

Go photo-mad in the ground-level hide

Kudu taken from the ground-level hide

If you’re a keen photographer, the ground-level hide at Anderssons will be a huge draw card. In a fun decor flourish, the entrance to the underground tunnel is formed by the back of a safari vehicle and the 10 chairs in the hide are comfy safari vehicle chairs too. In building the hide, they’ve thought of everything, from plugs for charging batteries and rubber matting to keep things quiet to a water station for marathon sessions. A coffee station is also planned. We spent some time there in the morning and heard Namaqua sandgrouse coming to drink at the waterhole. After sunset we enjoyed the sweet lilting whistles of the double-banded sandgrouse. Just imagine the excitement in the hide when an elephant, lion or rhino is drinking here.

Keep your eye on the webcam in your room

The fabulous TV monitor that allows you to keep tabs on what's happening at the waterhole

The suites at this Etosha accommodation have one of the coolest things I’ve seen on safari. Instead of worrying that you’re missing something as you loll in the cool and comfort of your suite with its day bed and shaded deck, you can keep an eye on the TV monitor mounted on the wall above the desk. It has a feed direct from the waterhole in front of the main area, so if anything exciting makes an appearance you can make a dash to see it in real life. Between the TV monitor, the waterhole and the underground hide, there’s almost no reason to leave camp!

Gaze at the stars
Here in the pollution-free, dry air of northern Namibia, the stars will shine at their brightest, especially on nights with no moon or just a sliver. Admire the constellations and planets without city buildings to obscure the view of the southern hemisphere’s magical night skies. The camp has a small Celestron telescope to enhance your experience. Star gazing is usually offered around 7pm.

Have a drink around the fire before dinner

The fire pit area gets busy before dinner

Although days in northern Namibia are usually warm to hot and sunny, even in winter, evenings can get chilly in the midwinter months of June and July. Come sunset, a fire is always burning in the conversation pit near the bar at Anderssons. It’s a perfect place to enjoy a drink, mull over the events of the day and perhaps swap wildlife stories with fellow guests.

Enjoy a nature walk
Bush walks are a great chance to read the ‘news’ of what has been happening when you weren’t watching. Tracks and signs, even scat, are a rich source of information in the hands of a skilled guide. This is also a time to slow down and use all your senses to really hear, smell and touch the surrounding nature, to learn about the uses of trees like camel thorn, sweet thorn, mopane and Kalahari apple-leaf. With a slower pace and less emphasis on big game, it’s also the time to spot smaller creatures like skinks, geckoes and elephant shrews. That said, however, you may get a chance to get close to white rhino on foot – an exceptional experience. Bush walks are a special treat here because they’re are not allowed in the adjoining Etosha National Park.

Take a dip in the pool with a view of the waterhole

Clouds reflected in the pool

Cool off in the heat of the day with a dip in the swimming pool. Its infinity rim blends seamlessly with the veld beyond, giving you a wide view of the waterhole and the game paths that thread their way towards it.

Go bird-watching
Use your walks to and from your suite, or your morning nature walk to look for some of the more than 400 species of birds that live in the area. You may spot or hear the calls of Hartlaub’s spurfowl, Monteiro’s hornbill, violet wood-hoopoe, lilac-breasted roller, crimson-breasted shrike, Ruppell’s parrot, Carp’s tit or bare-cheeked babbler, among others.

Discover fascinating conservation research
For me, one of the best things about staying at Anderssons at Ongava was the chance to interact with conservation researchers at tea time, before we set out on a guided afternoon drive.

When we visited, the camp had just opened and the new Ongava Research Centre’s (ORC) visitor centre was still being built. Now that it’s finished – it opened at the beginning of July 2019 – guests can wander through the exhibition area to learn about various aspects of research conducted on the reserve. They can also relax in the 36-seat auditorium for interactive presentations. It’s a safari meets science experience.

But we didn’t lose out. Before tea each day, Dr Florian Weise came to the lounge area to tell us about the work he and other Ongava researchers are doing. We heard mainly about rhino, lion and hyena research and it was enthralling.

Disappointing rainfall in the region has resulted in reserves resorting to emergency initiatives to avoid undue mortalities. Ongava has been supplementary feeding the white rhino mothers, without which their milk would dry up and the infant rhinos would succumb in a week

For instance, ORC researchers have been using DNA and interaction observations to study the parentage of Ongava’s rhinos. Previously it has been thought that the most mature bulls are the ones who are the dominant breeders. This has influenced choices of which rhinos to move to other areas to ensure genetic diversity in each population.

But Ongava is discovering that the biggest bulls are not in fact the ones fathering most of the calves. The females avoid inbreeding with their dominant fathers and often breed with newly introduced bulls. This will obviously change the thinking on which animals will be relocated to other reserves.

He also told us about a mapping project to determine the distribution of all four species of hyena – spotted hyena, brown hyena and aardwolf, which we all know because they occur in southern Africa, as well as striped hyena, which is found in north-eastern African countries like Ethiopia. It’s thought that hyenas might be declining across their range but scientists need more data to confirm this.

The Hyena Specialist Group launched the project in March 2018, asking citizen scientists – ordinary folk like you and me – to be the eyes and ears of researchers, who obviously can’t be everywhere at once. The idea is to submit digital photos of hyenas you see, together with accurate geographical co-ordinates, to either iNaturalist or the University of Cape Town’s MammalMAP project. ‘In this way, non-researchers can do their bit to help expand the data on where these animals occur,’ he said. 

Dr Florian Weise shares some of Ongava Research Centre's work with guests

Some 15 000 sightings by members of the public have been received and early indications are intriguing. For instance, the brown hyena seems to have a wider distribution than previously thought. New records show that they’re resident throughout Zimbabwe, where only sparse sightings had been recorded before.

‘The new research centre at Ongava recently hosted an international workshop with hyena experts from around the world, to review the updated distribution maps,’ says Weise. The results of this large collaborative study will be release in 2020. ‘ORC hopes that the new research campus will provide a useful venue for many other international projects like the hyena survey.’

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