We use Onguma regularly in our Namibia itineraries and know the reserve well. It sits right on the eastern edge of Etosha National Park, where wildlife moves naturally between the park and the private reserve, and lion sightings are often a real highlight.
But what we especially like is that Onguma’s involvement in lion conservation reaches far beyond its own boundaries.
The Namibian Lion Trust has been working in north-western Namibia since 1997, helping communities and lions live alongside one another in one of the country’s wildest and most remote regions.
Its work focuses heavily on reducing human-wildlife conflict. That means building predator-proof livestock enclosures, training farmers in better livestock management and supporting conservation education in local communities.
At the centre of it all is the Lion Ranger Programme. Forty-six rangers from 11 conservancies patrol almost 40,000 square kilometres of lion country, tracking movements, responding to conflict situations and helping farmers before problems escalate.
Anyone who has travelled through Kunene will know just how vast and isolated it is. Mobile signal is patchy at best, and in some areas it simply disappears.
That becomes a major problem when lions move close to livestock and rangers need to respond quickly.
This is where Onguma has stepped in. Through the conservation levy included in guest stays, Onguma is supporting a pilot project that provides Garmin inReach satellite communication devices to Lion Rangers, a Rapid Response leader and a local farmer.
These devices allow teams to report lion movements in real time and communicate from areas with no mobile coverage, helping them get ahead of potential conflict before livestock – or lions – are lost.
We recommend Onguma often, partly because it fits so well into an Etosha itinerary and partly because we know the guest experience is consistently good. But projects like this add another layer.
Guests may be staying hundreds of kilometres from Kunene, but a portion of what they spend is helping support people working directly with Namibia’s desert-adapted lions.
That creates a very real link between tourism and conservation – from the lions you might see around Onguma to the rangers protecting them elsewhere in Namibia. And that’s exactly the kind of conservation partnership we like to support.
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We are a group of four from Romania and spent 3 unforgettable weeks in Namibia. We can't recommend them enough, and for any future travels in Namibia or other parts of Africa, we will definitely use their services again.
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From the time we put the key in the ignition till we boarded the plane in Windhoek nothing went wrong.
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It was a fantastic experience, everything was very well organised, went smooth and according to expectations. It was our first self drive in Africa and it was a great, unforgettable time.
