Staff Reporter
THE legendary Okapuka Safari Lodge – known for offering a magical African Safari experience just a few kilometres from the capital city – will finally re-open its doors to the public this Sunday, 2 April, following the completion of the lodge’s six-month makeover.
The re-opening of the lodge comes after it temporarily closed at the end of last year to allow for an extensive revamp of the premises. The lodge’s makeover, which started in October 2022, was done by a Namibian interior design and manufacturing company, Women Unleashed. This came after Okapuka’s Flachberger family joined forces with Gondwana Collection Namibia last year.
Prior to the commencement of the lodge’s makeover, Gondwana Collection’s Public Relations Officer, Christiaan Jacobie, expressed his excitement about the collaboration between Okapuka and Gondwana, emphasising that the partnership represents a new chapter for both companies. That new chapter is finally here as Okapuka Safari Lodge is officially ready to welcome guests back to its newly-revamped premises.
Gondwana Collection’s Commercial and Synergy Manager, Anthea Cloete, explained that, while the revamp was extensive, they aimed to preserve the lodge’s timeless beauty and heritage.
“During the last few months, this grand old lady underwent a complete cosmetic makeover, restoring her classic looks and timeless beauty. Great care was taken to preserve her soul and classic safari heritage, reminiscent of a bygone era of class, luxury and safari opulence. She is still, and even more so, the Okapuka Lodge that we know and love and she is once again ready to make new memories, host special occasions and cement old friendships,” Cloete explained.
She said that the lodge offers three types of rooms: standard, classic and a luxury suite. The safari lodge’s well-known game drives are also still available – not only for inhouse guests, but also for day visitors. Cloete said that day visitors can also have lunch at the lodge and make use of one of the lodge’s pools. However, she added, day visitors will not be allowed to make use of these services without prior reservations.
“For the sake of maintaining the high standard of the experience and service that we intend to offer here, we have changed our policy to not permit any day visitors without prior reservations. This is to preserve the experience of our inhouse guests, but also for the security of this protected area,” Cloete explained.
Like Jacobie and Cloete, Gondwana Collection’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Gys Joubert, said that he is also very excited about the lodge’s re-opening. He explained that starting and completing the lodge’s makeover was not easy as “the process of getting funding took longer than the revamp”. Fortunately, he added, they were eventually able to secure funding from Bank Windhoek and complete the makeover in time and “just within budget”.
While the journey was long – Joubert said that he is grateful that Bank Windhoek backed them on this venture, which gave Okapuka Safari Lodge a new lease on life and preserved the legacy of the Flachberger family.
Bookings for the Okapuka Safari Lodge can be directed to directres@gondwana-collection.
