Horizon by Ongava

Horizon by Ongava is the smallest and most secluded lodge on the private Ongava reserve, on the southern border of Etosha National Park. Its three thatch-roofed villas sit among rocks and trees on a ridge-top at the end of a winding wooden boardwalk, looking out over plains that run to the horizon, with a waterhole below where the wildlife comes to drink. The lodge takes no more than six guests and is often booked in its entirety by a single party.

The reserve dates from 1991, when a group of nature lovers from Namibia, Britain, the United States and South Africa bought 34,000 hectares of worn-out ranchland and set about restoring it as a sanctuary for black and white rhino; Ongava means “rhino” in the Herero language. Lion, leopard, cheetah, elephant, giraffe, oryx, springbok and the rare black-faced impala share the land. Each villa has its own butler, and every booking comes with a private guide and vehicle. On the fully inclusive basis, meals, private activities, laundry, local drinks and airstrip transfers are all included.

Every outing is led by a private guide in a vehicle reserved for the villa’s guests alone, so the shape of the day is theirs to decide:

• game drives across the reserve at dawn and late afternoon, from open savannah and woodland to the edges of waterholes;
• guided walks that can lead to a careful approach on foot to elephant or rhino (from 16 years);
• night drives by handheld spotlight, with bushbabies, jackals and rhino moving in the dark;
• excursions into Etosha National Park, to the great salt pan, where flamingos gather in the rainy season, and to waterholes frequented by lion, elephant, rhino and two species of zebra;
• birdwatching;
• the Discovery Centre, a self-guided circuit of displays on the reserve’s geology, animals and plants, linked to the Ongava Research Centre;
• the reserve’s boutique.