Waterberg Plateau area is most famous home to Okonjima Lodge and the AfriCat Foundation. The work being done here is ground breaking and ensures reintroduction into the wild of some of Namibia's predators.
- Okonjima lodge – Main Camp, Bush Camp, Private Villa, and Bush Suite – arguably the finest accommodation in the area.
- AfriCat and CCF big cat rehabilitation sanctuaries
- See cheetah in full gallop and track leopard on foot
- Overnight walking trails in the Waterberg Plateau Park
- National Park with many rare species in unusually close proximity to each other
- Visit Lake Otjikoto near Tsumeb where the retreating German forces dumped their armaments in 1915
- Private game reserves with charming guesthouses
- Stop off at Okahandja to buy curios and wooden carvings from the Kavango Craftsmen
Most people visit the Waterberg to stay at the Okonjima Wildlife Project. An opportunity to see the fantastic work that the Africat Foundation are doing to reintroduce Cheetah and other big predators into the wild. Okonjima is also home to Wild Dogs, Leopards and Lions and for guests with time to spend, well worth of a two night stay. Staying in this area means that you can explore the Otjikoto Lake, and the town of Tsumeb. The Waterberg Plateau Park itself is a 405km sq park which was developed as sanctuary as for endangered species such as roan and sable antelope, Tsessebe and Cape Buffalo. The park is also the oonly place ins in Namibia to have a breeding population of Cape Vultures.
Half way between
Windhoek and
Etosha – perfect for an overnight stop – is an often forgotten and highly under-rated game viewing region. The
Waterberg Plateau rises 200m above the surrounding plains. With acacia-studded savanna below and broadleafed woodland on its slopes and top, the area supports a diversity of habitats and wildlife.
Its diversity lends itself to conservation projects of which several have made an international name for themselves: the Waterberg Plateau Park is a haven for Namibia's rarer antelope species, including the roan and sable varieties, and offers two walking trails, one is a free-roaming guided hike and the other is along a demarcated trail; the
Cheetah Conservation Fund is an amalgamation of several game farms contributing to the rearing and rehabilitation of these magnificent cats; and the
AfriCat Foundation, which often features in documentaries and is made all the more popular by the Okonjima portfolio of luxury lodges.
Smaller game farms abound in the Waterberg area and all have a finger in the conservation pie and some offer charming guestfarm accommodation. Further north, towards the great prize of
Etosha National Park are two interesting diversions: the 200-million-year-old fossilised dinosaur footprints, south of
Otjiwarongo, give a sense of the Namibian landscape's longevity; and
Hoba near
Grootfontein, which, at 60 tonnes and 3 cubic metres, is the world's largest known meteorite.
