Okambara Elephant Lodge

The second weekend in March my parents and me spent at Okambara Lodge. This is only a 2h drive from Windhoek to the east. The first question they asked me when I called to confirm my booking was what car do I drive. The last 8km from the “main road”, which is already only a gravel/sand road to the lodge just consists of mud and puddles after the good rains. The day before someone got stuck there with a combi. They advised me to keep on the track even when it goes through relatively deep water. We made it, but afterwards you could not even read the number plate anymore because of all the mud. Approaching the house offered a dreamlike view at a green jungle of bambus, cacti, bougainvillea and large trees. There were even ducks and geese on the grass. First we were greeted by a cute, tame suricate nibbling at my toes. Then the friendly house lady came and showed us around her little castle which she had designed herself.

After a delicious lunch and a nap we went on our fist game drive there. It started with feeding the captured leopards and cheetahs which were problem animals from other areas and found asylum here. One leopard was quite tame and I stroke his fur when he leaned against the fence. It was very soft. The cheetahs fought with each other for their food and it was a joy to watch these graceful cats. You could see that our guide liked his job and with the help of a sender he found the little herd of elephants on this gigantic farm for us. On the way there we saw the damage they hat done to the fences and wind-engine. One bull had fought with the others and then escaped from the farm. Later we heard that he had to be shut. So there were 7 elephants left and we saw the whole group. Furthermore we spotted red hartebeest, wildebeest, steenbok, impala, eagle, stork, ostrich and some small birds. At the end of our excursion it started to rain and we were rewarded with the view of giraffes in front of a rainbow. In the evening we fed wild porcupines at the terrace.

The next day we started with a game drive after breakfast to find the rhinos. We drove criss-cross through the farm, discovered tortoises and saw a beautiful large kudu-bull very close, but no sign of the rhinos. We already turned back to the house when we spotted a little grey hill between the bushes at our side. It was the back of a rhino. We drove closer and met the whole family which was peacefully grazing. Very satisfied with this success we returned to the main house. After a swim in the large pool we said goodbye and made our way back to Windhoek.