Etosha Game Drives

Etosha National Park is one of Africa’s great wildlife destinations, and Onguma sits at its eastern edge, minutes from the Von Lindequist Gate. From here, guests can join a guided excursion into the Park in Onguma’s open-sided vehicles, led by expert guides who know the eastern animal territory well, or head in independently on a self-drive at your own pace. Either way, the gate opens at first light, and the best of the morning is yours to make the most of.

Important Information

Enquire Now

Minimum guests: 2
Maximum guests: 6 to 9 depending on property booked
Age Restriction: Children aged 7 years and older. Children under 7 years require a private vehicle booking
Rates: Please visit Rates page
Booking: Pre-booking is strongly recommended to avoid disappointment

What is Etosha National Park?

Etosha is a 22,750 square kilometre wildlife sanctuary in northern Namibia, and one of Africa’s most accessible and well-managed National Parks. Its name, meaning “place of dry water” in the local Ndonga language, refers to the great flat calcrete depression at its heart: a pan of roughly 5,000 square kilometres that defines the Park’s character and shapes the movement of its wildlife.

The Etosha Pan is visible from the Onguma reserve and forms a vast, shimmering backdrop to the surrounding semi-arid savannah, grassland, and thorn scrub. For most of the year the pan is dry, its surface a flat expanse of silver-white crust that creates the dramatic, otherworldly landscapes that photographers travel from across the world to capture. After good rains it holds water briefly, sometimes for only a few days, but that is enough to trigger the growth of blue-green algae and draw thousands of flamingos to its surface in one of nature’s more spectacular seasonal events.

Book your Activity

What Wildlife Can You Expect to
See in Etosha?

Etosha is home to close to 114 mammal species, making it one of the most diverse wildlife sanctuaries on the African continent. The Park is particularly well known for its populations of lion, leopard, elephant, and both black and white rhinos. It is worth noting that Etosha has no buffalo, hippos, crocodiles due to its aridness, but the variety and density of game more than compensate, and the open, flat terrain around the pan makes for excellent visibility at waterholes and across the plains.

Of particular interest is the black-faced Impala, a subspecies found in Etosha and not seen in southern parts of the continent. The Park’s black rhino population is one of the largest in Africa, and sightings, while never guaranteed, are a consistent feature of drives in the eastern area accessible through the Von Lindequist Gate.

More than 340 bird species have been recorded within the Park. During the rainy season the Etosha Pan partially floods and becomes a temporary wetland of remarkable significance, drawing vast concentrations of migratory waterbirds including flamingo, pelican, and a wide variety of waterbirds that are absent from the region for the rest of the year.

Joining a guided excursion also means travelling in Onguma’s open-sided vehicles, which offer unobstructed sightlines and a genuine connection to the landscape that a closed hire car simply cannot provide. For guests who have not driven in a National Park before, or who simply want to sit back and take it all in, the guided option removes every logistical consideration and leaves only the experience itself.

Guests who prefer the freedom of self-drive are equally well placed at Onguma. The Von Lindequist Gate is minutes away, the reserve’s team can advise on routes, waterholes, and conditions, and Onguma provides a comfortable, well-located base to return to at the end of the day.

Why Join a Guided Etosha Excursion from Onguma?

Onguma’s guides bring the same depth of knowledge to an Etosha excursion that they bring to drives on the private reserve. Trained under walking safari specialist Alan McSmith, they read the Park with an attentiveness that transforms a game drive into something more than a list of sightings. They know the eastern areas, the productive waterholes, and the seasonal patterns that determine where the animals are likely to be at any given time of year.

The Von Lindequist Gate — Your Gateway to the eastern Etosha Pan

The Von Lindequist Gate at Namutoni is one of Etosha’s most sought-after entry points, and Onguma’s position directly on the eastern boundary of the Park puts guests within minutes of it. This gate is the closest access point to the Etosha Pan itself, placing guests in some of the Park’s finest game-viewing destinations from the moment they enter. At first light, with the pan stretching out ahead and the morning air still cool, it is a particularly compelling place to begin a day’s game viewing.