Onguma Private Game Reserve

January 31^st, 2025

This morning was our opportunity to check out the hide on the reserve. This was good in several ways, one of which is that we got to sleep in.

A hide in a game reserve is a specially designed, concealed structure situated near a waterhole or other wildlife attraction, which allows visitors to observe animals up close without disturbing them. It is great for wildlife photography and close-up viewing, and you can sit quietly and watch animals come and go in their natural habitat. It is essentially, a hidden observation point for wildlife viewing and gives you unique opportunity to view wildlife, unbeknown to the animals, at an angle you don’t get from bumping around in a vehicle or trying to approach on foot.

The Onguma one is situated on a waterhole.

After you park the vehicle you walk down a long passage to the hide, trying to be as quiet as you can.

Then you usually go down a few steps into a low roofed, dark, dank, malodorous  room where you sit on a uncomfortable bench and try to avoid the spiders and other creepy crawlies who call the hide home.

It is not really that bad an experience, especially when you get to see the wildlife right in front of you. I had the best elephant experience of my life in July in the hide at Hyena Pan in Botswana, so the condition of the hide really doesn’t matter.

Well as we arrived at the Onguma hide, we knew at once it was something special. It looked like a bizarre overgrown zebra.

We entered the walkway to the hide

And went down the few steps to a pleasant, bright, bug free space.

It had comfy leather chairs

And plenty of provisions to keep us supplied as we watched the changing scene outside.

Brian especially appreciated the bean bags on which you can rest your camera. They even had special supports for mobile phone camera use.

All in all it was a wonderful place.

The only issue is that the wildlife doesn’t know that they should be visiting the waterhole.

Apart from an Egyptian goose, and a couple of other birds, we had no visitors at all at the waterhole.

This could have been disappointing, but those are the breaks with game viewing. Sometimes you just have to enjoy being out in the wilds, smelling the scent of the bush, listening to the magical bird sounds filling the air, or the roar of distant lions.

After a while there we decided to head back to the camp, stopping by at the facilities first. Would you believe there was a flush toilet with a sink with running water? This is certainly not your usual hide!

We returned to the camp and were so excited that our very own waterhole was teaming with activity. There were egrets, zebra, a wildebeest, and loads of impalas all having a great time at the waterhole.

We even had some impalas right by our room. They were happily munching away, not minding our presence at all.

We took some photos around the camp.

The dining area

The seats around the fire

Reception

And the living area.

It really is a beautiful camp, even if there were no animals at all, I would be happy to stay here.

It was very hot, so after lunch we went for a swim

And watched the animals at the water hole. A great way to spend an afternoon.

After tea we headed back to Etosha once more.

It was another really productive game drive.

Many lilac breasted rollers

And other birds

Kudus

Warthogs

Impalas

Zebras

Giraffes

Two hyena moms feeding their young

A black rhino and child

And the best of all, a family of cheetahs.

You really couldn’t ask for more. Well except elephants. We did see some in the distance but it was getting late and we had to get out of Etosha before the park closed, so we could not go and explore.

Then as we were hurrying to leave the park, there was an elephant on the road. He looked annoyed and was carrying his trunk on his tusks. Kind of a strange thing to do.

Then, just as we got to the gate, 2 dung beetles were busy trying to get their ball of dung across the road. I do admire dung beetles, they are such hard workers under difficult conditions. The ball was huge, and they are so tiny!

We said goodbye to Etosha and hello to Onguma and drove back for dinner just as the sun was setting.

There are 2 fences between Etosha and Onguma and Victor had said that sometimes the animals burrow under the fences and get to the other park. Well this evening some kudus had decided to switch parks and were now between the 2 fences.

In the fading light we watched them jump the fence and land in Onguma.

Back at the camp our table was set for dinner.

Would the plague of moths return tonight? Yes they did, in even greater numbers.

We ate in near darkness in the faint hope that they would not invade us, but it was all in vain. Yet again we abandoned our meal and escaped back to our tents. This was such a shame. Brian and I had been hoping to spend the last night in the bush sitting around the fire, but it was not to be.

Still, I have no real complaints – we had had such a wonderful day in the park, a plague of annoying huge moths was not going to spoil that!