Going on safari usually involves game drives and walks away from the camp, generally returning to camp for delicious food and comfortable beds. However, spend a day at camp, and sometimes the wildlife comes to you!

On a trip to Namibia, we spent a whole day in our luxurious, spacious unit at Little Ongava. This camp is built on a rocky hilltop with panoramic views across the mopane woodland, but even without the help of binoculars, one can sit on one’s deck and some of the local inhabitants are sure to drop by.

The infinity pool is a major drawcard for birds who seem to see it as their personal – if somewhat large – birdbath. Red-eyed bulbuls (a southern African endemic) were the most common, in both senses of the word; they were the loudest and took up the best spot – centre stage really – every time. Masked weavers, glossy starlings and the occasional Monteiro’s hornbill managed to find place too, splashing about with verve and vigour.

Unexpectedly, a very different sort of bird arrived: a little banded goshawk landed on the pool’s edge, sending the avian crowd scattering. He proceeded to give himself a thorough washing for a good few minutes; it was a tremendous privilege to be able to watch this from only a few feet away.

Other inhabitants of the area however, prefer to stay dry. The Kaokoveld dassie, a near endemic rock hyrax, is to be found all over this area, and it seems their favourite spot for a morning snooze is on the boardwalk between the unit and the sala. In the afternoon however, they seek the shade of the sala itself and were most unimpressed when we attempted to join them. The striped squirrels (another Namibian endemic, confined to the north-western regions) joined in the fun, leaping between the branches of nearby trees and the wooden deck, loudly chittering their approval of the accommodation it seemed.

A grand finale before we left the comfort of the deckchairs for a game drive was the sinuous snakelike movements of a slender mongoose which wound its way through and over the rocks near us, his golden tail the last thing to disappear into a cleft in the rocks.

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More about Little Ongavaa

Location:  Ongava Lodge, Ongava Game Reserve, Namibia
Date:   20-22 March 2010
Observer:  Chris Roche
Photographers: Grant Atkinson, Martin Benadie

As a result of its arid isolation, Namibia is a haven for endemic species that have evolved away from their more widespread counterparts in savannah and woodland ecosystems. It is also ideal for small mammals that exploit specific niches and are able to withstand the extremes of the desert through their ability to use the abundant rock crevices for shelter and protection.

Ongava Lodge, situated as it is on the dolomite ridge of the Ondundozonandana Mountains, is an excellent location for camp-based game viewing. This is not just for the ‘big game’ that comes to drink at the waterhole below camp (black rhino, lion, greater kudu, black-faced impala, oryx and others) but also for the ability of guests to access the rugged, rocky surrounds of camp from the comfort of the walkways. This, and the fact that the camp has been in situ for some 15 years (giving the mammal inhabitants of the ridge time to habituate to human observation), means that guests can enjoy some spectacular viewing of three usually tricky-to-find species.

The most obvious is the rock hyrax or rock dassie, colonies of which swarm over the rocks behind the main area and all along the ridge from the vehicle parking point to Little Ongava higher up. The ability to observe them at close quarters is a fantastic boon for noting the adaptation to this rocky habitat in their paws and pelage.

Just below the main deck, en route to Rooms 13 and 14, is the best place to find and photograph the endemic dassie rat, a rather large rodent that is restricted to such rocky outcrops in Namibia and is usually quite difficult to watch. At this location a small family can sometimes be seen sunning themselves.

The last of Ongava ‘rock stars’ is the striped tree squirrel. This is not strictly speaking a species that is adapted to the rocky outcrops, but it does favour the syringa and euphorbia trees that grow in these locations as a result of these being refuges from large mammals like elephant and black rhino, as well as fire. They can be seen in the trees between the main area and the curio shop as well as along the ridge towards the chapel and Little Ongava and are incredibly difficult to photograph as they whizz through the branches. This is the southernmost extent of their range (which falls mostly in Angola to the north) and this is perhaps the best place to see this species in southern Africa.