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Once in a Lifetime

We travelled to Africa as our once in a lifetime visit to experience a cross section of Southern and Eastern Africa. As a couple travelling with a good friend on single supplement, the three of us were totally impressed with Katelyn's ability to ensure that our requested 'in country' travel itinerary was arranged perfectly. We booked our own international flights before we chose Bench Africa to complete the 'in country itinerary'. Our trip involved a mix of various tours and independent requests/arrangements all booked through Bench Africa. All of these worked perfectly, with the accommodation, meals and transport (land and air) very well coordinated by Katelyn such that there were no problems with this relatively complicated itinerary. The standard of accommodation, meals and travel exceeded our expectations. Our 5 weeks included South Africa (rail, road and air), Kenya / Tanzania (12 day Safari), Zambia/ Zimbabwe and Botswana (land and air). Whilst we paid more than what we initially thought, Katelyn expanded our horizons on what was possible with the result that we achieved more than that we wanted to achieve for this adventure. This journey was faultless, value for money and a credit to Katelyn and Bench Africa. We highly recommend Bench Africa.

Henry, Sue and Jean Destination: Kenya

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East Africa Safari/Victoria Falls

Easy company to deal with. Safari was excellent, fantastic sights. Road travel challenging but more than made up for by great accommodation. Extremely knowledgeable and helpful guides.
This was a great trip.

Paul & Kaye Hartley Destination: Kenya

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Very experienced in African Travel

Very experienced in African Travel, tailored our trip to our likes and dislikes, pricing was also matched to our budget.
Everything went to plan, no hidden surprises, all tour companies used in Africa were experienced and reliable.
Accommodation chosen was superb.

Tompkins Destination: Zimbabwe

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Best holiday ever

Best holiday ever, totally organized, guides were wonderful and accommodation above expectations,

Denise McGlinchy Destination: Botswana

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Without a Hitch!

I headed ott to travel via the Rovos train from Pretoria to Cape Town.
A remarkable trip in itself but further enhanced with the help of Karin from Bench Africa.
Karen organised all my internal travel by car and train within South Africa.
When the schedule said car pick up , there was a car to pick me up.
My ten day trip entailed a safari and train trip.
All went so smoothly that as a world traveler I would consider this adventure as one of the best I've experienced.
I organised my flights with frequent flyer points but everything else was done by Karen from Bench Africa
Would recommend this company without hesitation.
John

John Steele Destination: South Africa

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Tanzania, Kenya, Victoria Falls and South Africa, absolutely AMAZING!

We booked and chose our African experience through our local travel agent. After perusing all the booklets and catalogues available on Africa, Bench International had by far the more comprehensive trips and covered exactly what we were looking for. They covered a variety of levels of accommodation, sights and tour sizes. We were looking for small group, personalised safari's staying in secure accommodation along with a self-drive garden route finish within our budget. Bench put together the most amazing 5 weeks of our lives in August/September this year, covering our total wish list and more. They then provided ALL the information possible in a travel booklet including our itinerary, country information, approximately what amount of money we would require,tipping advice etc that we used like a bible on a daily basis.
We started our trip in Arusha where we arrived at lunch time and had the afternoon to spare. Our Bench advisor 'Charles' who met at us our Hotel after being collected from the airport by our first tour guide 'Edwin', advised us not to leave the secured grounds of our accommodation. At our disappointment of being stuck in a room all afternoon (after 5 flights from Australia over the previous 2 days) Charles went over and beyond our expectations and arranged for a friend to come and collect us and take us for a 31/2 hour walk through Arusha and experience the local people and markets, then onto the local Tanzanite museum. We felt very secure in his company and had the most amazing insight into this city that would otherwise never have been available to us. The next morning 'Edwin' began our 7 day, Tanzanian part of the '12 day Highlights of East Africa' tour including Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti N/P & Lake Manyara N/P. Bench matched us perfectly with another couple of similar age and personality to make our small group tour extremely enjoyable - and found us new life long friends. Edwin had over 10 years experience as a tour guide and was extremely knowledgeable and could not do enough for us before leaving us at the Kenyan border for 'Freddie' our next very experienced tour guide. Freddie took us on to Amboseli N/P, Masai Mara Game Reserve, Lake Nakuru & Nairobi. By the time Freddie completed our Highlights of East Africa tour, we had seen ALL of the Big 5, some several times over! This included a Lioness killing a Warthog, Leopard attack on Gazelle, mating Rhino's & Lions, many Elephants and Buffalo on a daily basis - ALL at very close range. AMAZING! From here we flew to Zimbabwe for 4 days at Victoria Falls Safari Lodge. We are so glad Bench offered the extra optional activities of a Helicopter flight over Victoria Falls & the Zambezi River which gives a whole different appreciation of this landscape from the sky; Elephant Back Safari and Lion encounter which gave us very personal time learning about these amazing animals and walking/riding with them through their natural environment and not in caged areas. From here we flew to Cape Town and on our own began a 12 day self-drive Garden Route trip. With a suggestion list from Bench we explored Cape Town, the Winelands and the garden route up to Port Elizabeth. Our hire car & accommodation once again was perfectly arranged to our taste and budget.
During our trip we stayed in top hotels, tented lodges and on a coffee farm. All this accommodation was immaculate, well presented and many provided 3 meals a day including a packed lunch box on the days we were on Safari drives. At no time on our tour did we feel unsecure as our guides were local people with great local knowledge. Everything went perfectly to plan with our very experienced tour guides Edwin and Freddie offering over and above what we expected. We would highly recommend Bench International to anyone and if we were ever to return to these beautiful countries would never travel with anyone else. Thank you Bench and your tour staff for a once in a lifetime most amazing holiday to Africa.
Rob & Carleen Hargreaves, Queensland

Carleen Hargreaves

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Exceptionally efficient, professional and helpful.

We had a trip organised by Stephanie Osorio and found her very helpful and friendly. Everything planned went smoothly which added to our enjoyment of the trip. The end itinerary package was just amazing, something to keep and show friends. I will most certainly recommend Bench International and intend to have another trip organised in the future together with friends.
Suzanna Ainsworth .

Suzanna Ainsworth