Why everyone should visit Okaukuejo, Etosha

By Roxanne Reid
Namibia Wildlife Resorts upped its prices by monstrous amounts in 2007, and they’ve gone up every year since then. For a long time after the huge upgrade, we avoided Etosha National Park’s Okaukuejo camp. But we made a comeback to the campsite a few years later, which reminded us of how fabulous that floodlit waterhole at camp really is. 

For years before 2007 we had stayed in what were then simple waterfront chalets – for about the same as you now have to pay to camp. At 2025 rates, it now costs around N$4760-7920 per night for the two of us in a waterhole chalet, which is way beyond our budget. Camping costs N$920 a night for two, but we never liked Okaukuejo’s campsite. Much as we enjoyed hours watching game at Okaukuejo’s floodlit waterhole, we’d always looked at the campsite and thought, ‘Poor buggers, glad it’s not us.’

For one thing, the campsite is huge. For another, there’s not much shade – and I’m a serious lover of shade. 

But then we decided to be brave … and we discovered that the Okaukuejo campsite wasn’t nearly as bad as we’d thought.

Yes, some of the campsites were stark and naked, entirely without shade in the baking sun, but they tended to be allocated to single nighters. (Sites are allocated by the park, so there's no bickering among visitors.)

We were staying three nights and were lucky enough to bag a site down a cul de sac that led to only four sites so it was quiet, not many people stirring the dust as they drove by.

It also had a winter-sparse acacia tree that gave some shade at midday and some shade in the afternoon, though we had to pick up our chairs and follow it. We even had laid on entertainment in the form of a  huge sociable weaver’s nest. Those chatty little birds came and went, building on to their apartment block, telling each other the day’s news.

Our camp site was along the fence next to an access/exit route for animal visitors to Okaukuejo's floodlit waterhole, so we had elephants and other animals walking past beyond the fence just 50 metres from our site.

I especially enjoyed a breeding herd with little calves hurrying by at sunset after their evening drinks. It was magic, particularly because we didn’t have to share them with a whole crowd of twittering Chinese or loud-mouthed Americans, just with our nearest neighbours, a quiet German couple who seemed to ‘get’ why this was such a privilege.

Just an aside about the communal ablutions in the campsite. You hear a lot of people complaining that they lack maintenance and are dirty. Yes, sometimes a door doesn’t lock properly or a shower drain is blocked, and that’s definitely a maintenance issue. And Namibia Wildlife Resorts could definitely do better.

But the dirtiness, I’m afraid, is something campers only have themselves to blame for. General courtesy is to clean basins and showers after you’ve used them. Don’t leave a mess for others who come after you. Cleaners come in at least twice a day but they can’t keep up with campers who are slovenly in the ablutions, so do your bit to keep things pleasant for everyone.

The floodlit Okaukuejo waterhole
As always, the Okaukuejo waterhole produced wonderful sightings of breeding herds of elephant, as well as black rhino almost every evening. There were daily sunset choruses from flocks of double-banded sandgrouse, even a lion coming to drink in the dead of night. During the day, herds of zebras and plains game visited, as well as giraffe. It's a well-trafficked waterhole. I’m sure that if you sat there for a full 24 hours, you’d see as much in one place as some other people do frantically driving around for two days.

Other good waterholes in easy reach
The main reason we decided to brave the campsite at Okaukuejo was to be in easy reach of the many good waterholes in the area. Although this time we missed the lions that are often seen at Okondeka to the north, there was plenty of plains game and the smallest cuddly-toy giraffe. The fuzzy little horn tufts on top of its head didn’t even reach as high as the top of mom’s tail; it could probably have stood underneath her tummy for some shade with just the tiniest kink in its neck.

At Nebrowni we found a maned lion installed for all to see, so we knew there wouldn’t be much  game there for a while. Some foreign tourists were out of their car to photograph it, obviously thinking they were in a zoo. A tracker told me once that if you’re standing right in the doorway of your car, 50m from a lion that decides to mount a charge, you won’t have time to get inside before he zaps you. That’s how fast they are; that’s how stupid tourists can be.

Further afield at Aus we watched 20 kudu, three of the  bulls with magnificent horns. We found a herd of red hartebeest at Olifantsbad, which was looking really overgrazed in this year of low rainfall, much like a post-bomb Hiroshima landscape. Gemsbokvlakte was awash with zebra, gemsbok, wildebeest and springbok, and a sprinkling of jackals.

By the time we got back to Nebrowni, the lion had moved on and there were at least 800 animals thronging the area around the waterhole: springbok, impala, gemsbok having a battle of the horns (they really are the grumpiest of all antelope!) kudu, wildebeest, zebra, a few giraffe, and three massive bull elephants strolling up the road to join them.

​It was a scene of such magnificence it took our breath away. If you think the days of massive herds of game are gone forever, think again and come to Nebrowni near Okaukuejo in Etosha to find them.

You may also enjoy
Etosha National Park: the ultimate guide
12 of the best waterholes at Etosha National Park, Namibia
Okaukuejo camp: see elephants on an Etosha safari

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