OKONJIMA VILLA – OKONJIMA – AFRICAT

Okonjima Villa is the only lodge situated inside the private Okonjima nature reserve which is home to Africat. This safari-chic, thatched villa has two ensuite luxury bedrooms in the main house and two separate private and luxurious mini suites – which together can accommodate up to eight adults and four children.

The hosts and chefs attend to all your needs from turn-downs to gourmet meals – ensuring a relaxed luxury safari experience. Okonjima was a cattle farm since the early 1920s that was bought by Brahman breeders Val and Rose Hanssen in 1970 who transformed it into a nature reserve with a primary focus on carnivore conservation through The AfriCat Foundation. Today it’s a luxurious African safari destination in the heart of Namibia that’s ideal for wildlife photography and famed for its cheetah, brown hyena and leopard sightings.

Okonjima offers a number of activities from hiking and mountain biking with your own mountain bike to bird watching and a fitness retreat. Okonjima is home to the AfriCat Foundation, an organisation whose mission is to try and ensure a future for the large carnivores of Namibia. Experience some of their projects – such as the Cheetah Rehabilitation Project – at work during your stay.

LOCATION

Okonjima Villa rests at the foot of the sandstone Omboroko Mountains amidst Acacia thornveld in a malaria-free area. It is halfway between Namibia’s capital city Windhoek and the Etosha National Park – only a two-and-a-half-hour drive or a brief flight into the reserve’s private airstrip.

VILLA

The Okonjima African Villa is situated in a secluded wilderness area overlooking a natural waterhole that’s ideal for wildlife photography and bird watching. The villa has two ensuite luxury bedrooms in the main house and two separate private luxury mini suites which together can accommodate up to eight adults and four children.

The main house has two ensuite luxury bedrooms with both an inside and outside shower as well as a bath with views of the Namibian bush. The modern, chef-designed kitchen has wine and soft drink coolers, gas and electric cooking facilities and a double-door refrigerator with a built-in ice maker and the lounge and dining areas have a wood-burning fireplace that brings the rooms together.

Outside there is an infinity pool which is necklaced by an African red teak deck and looks out onto the waterhole and there is an open-air, shaded sala which is ideal for an alfresco meal or afternoon nap

The hosts and chefs attend to all your needs from turn-downs to gourmet meals to ensure you enjoy a relaxed luxury safari experience

The two private, luxury mini suites are situated 35-50 metres on either side of the main house and have double volume thatched roofs with air-conditioning, fans and heating facilities and glass-panelled sliding doors with panoramic views across Okonjima Nature Reserve. Should you choose, these open doorways may be replaced with roll-down, zip-fastened canvas partitioning with heavy-duty gauze screens – to give you a true sense of staying in the bush. You have the choice of an inside or outside shower, as well as bathrooms with bush views in the ensuite bathrooms.

The suites enjoy a well-stocked mini bar, tea and coffee making facilities and there is WIFI and ample workspace too.

ACTIVITIES AND WILDLIFE

The Okonjima Nature Reserve sprawls over 200 square kilometres of undulating plains, mountainous outcrops and riverine thickets and it is here that leopard – the most adaptable of all the wild cats – thrive. These intelligent, solitary predators occur in high density in the expanse of Okonjima Nature Reserve’s multi-faceted topography. The Reserve’s predator research programme has spanned three decades, and its findings have provided great insight to leopard behaviour patterns as well as offered an upbeat prognosis for a sustainable future for the species in today’s Africa.

A two-day Okonjima stay offers the best chance to view wild leopard in Namibia as well as those collared for research purposes in their natural habitats. Research programme leopard are actively tracked, and their collars are an invaluable resource for locating and then returning to the Reserve cats which have migrated to surrounding farmland where they are perceived as threats to livestock.

The Okonjima Nature Reserve – a huge, protected area set amongst the rugged commercial farmlands of central Namibia – comprises a diversified ecosystem representative of both the larger and small mammals of Namibia, as well as most of the country’s endemic birds.

Game drives and guided bush walks offer visitors an intimate, up-close perspective of Namibia’s wildlife and especially its most protected species.

The Okonjima Nature Reserve is home to and runs extensive research projects on rare and endangered species, big and small.

Okonjima Nature Trails – join a guided Off-The-Beaten-Track walk & drive activity. This undemanding combination of a short walking trail and nature drive in the Okonjima Nature Reserve is especially loved by our younger guests and families, due to interactive and informative demonstrations. The two-hour experience provides a stimulating insight into the flora, fauna and culture of Namibia.

Self-guided hiking along our nature trails – between early morning and afternoon game drives you can enjoy a self-guided hike along one of three well laid-out hiking trails. The trails vary between four and six kilometres and are clearly marked as they meander along spectacular landscapes where wildlife thrives. The trails start a short distance from either of the Okonjima Lodge camps.

Nocturnal Game Drives – after the sun has set and the temperatures have dropped the African bush comes to life once again: bat-eared foxes roam about, aardwolves are on the hunt for insects, owls observe their surroundings from a height, while leopards and brown hyaena go out in search of prey.

Bird Watching – the landscapes within the Okonjima Nature Reserve, with its elevated sandy plateau between the major escarpments of the Omboroko Mountains, boasts mixed woodland and acacia thornveld plains making it the perfect birding destination. Keep your binoculars at hand and enjoy the chance to identify over 250 bird species…

Visit the project at AfriCat’s Carnivore Care and Information Centre – a highlight at Okonjima is learning about big-cats. The Okonjima Nature Reserve is home to the headquarters of The AfriCat Foundation www.africat.org – a non-profit organisation committed to long-term conservation of Namibia’s large carnivores.

AfriCat has evolved over the past three decades and what started out primary as a welfare organisation has over the years identified the need to incorporate a focus on education and develop an ongoing collaboration with researchers, scientists, and conservation authorities. This is undertaken through practical research of species-specific ecology and behaviour, as well as through the development of effective conservation and management strategies.

Some of AfriCat’s captive carnivores in care today are too old or habituated to be reintroduced into the wild and will therefore remain under the expert care of the AfriCat Team. These animals have assumed the role of being Species Ambassadors for their wild counterparts.

After an informative afternoon trail, you end the day with a sundowner in an area of the Okonjima Nature Reserve which has a high density of the secretly-social and rarely-seen brown hyaena.

GIVING BACK

Africat’s dream is to turn their 55 000-acre nature reserve that was once denuded farmland, back to its natural state, last seen 200 years ago. This dream must be sustainable and must benefit local communities for it to survive the tide of change in Africa.

This ongoing project, headed by the Hanssen Family, is close to removing the majority of internal fences, manages water resources and hides, has opened new bush roads and is removing undesirable vegetation as part of its debushing efforts.

Both Okonjima and AfriCat are dedicated to creating conservation awareness through environmental education, preserving habitat and promoting research.

AfriCat and Okonjima have dedicated their efforts to rescuing carnivores from inhumane conditions, taking care of those that are too injured to be set free, and have rehabilitated and released more than 1080 large carnivores since 1993.

Today, AfriCat’s emphasis lies with ensuring the long-term survival of Namibia’s large carnivore species through environmental education, research and by mitigating human- wildlife conflict. In this way, AfriCat contributes to habitat and wildlife conservation, as well as uplifting affected farming communities.

Tourism and wildlife conservation is one of the most compatible relationships in Africa.

OKONJIMA VILLA IS OPEN ALL YEAR ROUND

THE CAMP WELCOMES FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN OF ALL AGES

DUE TO THE NATURE OF SOME OF THE ACTIVITIES CHILD PARTICIPATION MAY BE RESTRICTED