We had a terrible experience at our hotel in Cape Town booked by Bench Africa and were directed to Zambia, rather than Zimbadwe, to see Vic Falls, when it is common knowledge in the travel industry that there is little water in the Falls on Zambian side and we could not get back to Zim side due to problem with visas, so we were denied seeing the most important part of our African experience; also the reception at our hotel in Livingstone insisted that we were Americans from DC and we spent 45 minutes before they reluctantly gave a us room, without functioning airconditioning, despite it being 35 degrees c , until the morning of our departure when the AC started operating! Our 6 days in Makutsi Safari Park near Kruger was sensational and the Cresta Mowana in Kasane was also wonderful as we saw all the animals with wonderful guides and terrific accommodation and these 2 experiences made up for the hopelessness of the hotels in CT and Livingstone. Overall, we refused to allow the 2 bad experiences to spoil our African experience and we are booked to return to Africa to experience more of its wonder and we are taking friends back with us so they can share our wonder too. We told Bench Africa about our horrible time at the CT hotel and the disappointment of not experiencing the wonders of Vic Falls , but apart from a promise to look into why it all happened , we have heard nothing back and assume we were consigned to the "too busy" basket.

This is now our fourth trip to Africa with Bench International and this last trip we had the pleasure of sharing the experience with friends. Again our experience surpassed expectations in every way. The properties we stayed at : Madikwe Hills, Leopard Hills and King's camp provided luxury accommodation, exceptional service, wonderful food and fantastic game drives. What more could you ask for? It is just hard to fault any aspect of this holiday. We would like to thank Julie De Palo at Bench for again helping us with all the arrangements for this special trip, providing us with more amazing memories. It will not be our last trip to Africa!

Bench has always provided prompt and thorough information, and the booking process and holiday experiences just as described - very happy to book again and again! Our holiday this time was a bit different, stayed at Makutsi Lodge (outskirts of Kruger National Park) instead of travelling/touring, and had a wonderful time!

Wow..where do I begin, every aspect of this adventure was perfect. The trip of a lifetime ill of experiences I will treasure forever. Karen our travel conSultant from Bench, created a trip that delivered in every way. She asked what we wanted to do and see then created and worked with us to create that delivered everything and more than we expected. Everything went like clockwork there were no issues or hiccups throughout the month we spent in East and South Africa. Travelling throughout East Africa was absolutely our highlight. We saw every animal possible, vast herds on the move and in their natural setting. The Lodges and service were fantastic and we were totally spoilt in every way. Cape Town, the vineyards and Victoria Falls were icing on the cake. An amazing holiday from start to finish.

We were very well looked after on our classic Namibia safari from start to finish. The itinerary provided a good deal of variety in our daily activities. Our guide was excellent in terms of his driving, knowledge, organisation and helpfulness. The hotels were wonderful and the camping days were fun and an opportunity to see some out of the way places. We were very impressed by the delicious meals during the camping days. We would not hesitate to repeat this safari experience. Eric at Bench was so helpful and responded very promptly to email queries.

I used benchAfrica to book a week at Makutsi Safari Springs in late September. I spoke with Hank who was very helpful, and has kept in touch since I returned home by sending a Welcome Home card. He answered all my questions and gave good advice.

Very happy to recommend bench Africa! Bench arranged a custom safari itinerary in Kenya and Tanzania for our family to celebrate my husband’s 50th birthday. After two nights in Nairobi, we experienced fantastic 11 nights on Safari with our own driver and vehicle, staying mostly in luxury tinted accommodation close to within the parks. We visited Amboseli National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, the Seronera Valley of the Serengeti and then headed north to the Mara River where nature gave us the gift of seeing the wildebeest migration in action during an extraordinary river crossing complete with crocodile encounters! We finished off with five nights of beach luxury on the island of Zanzibar. A once in a lifetime experience!

Bench Africa recently organised a very personalized trip in Africa for our family. The planning and organisation was extremely thorough and consultant (Lyndal) was very patient whilst we changed our plans and dates numerous times. Once we were in Africa, our transfers, guides and accommodation were all excellent. We would highly recommend Bench Africa

Most helpful and all arrangements ran to plan.

This was the trip of a lifetime and going through Bench travel the best decision I made. We had Karen organise our trip and with only 10 days she fitted everything in we wanted to do from Cape town and the wine district to Safari in Sabi Sabi and Victoria falls. It was so well organised it just flowed. Karen was always very helpful and calmly made any changes we needed. Every person we met was interesting and helpful and added to the experience. In particular Sabi Sabi Bush Camp was fantastic, the enthusiasm, passion and knowledge of our safari driver Ruth and tracker Heaviness was contagious and the lengths they went to to ensure we had the most amazing experience ever was truly remarkable. They went out of their way to make sure both the other couple in our vehicle and ourselves enjoy every minute and of course tracking down the Big 5. Ruth even dined with us every night adding lots of back ground and stories to the experience and making us really feel at home. The Camp itself is amazing, as is the food and service and all the staff. Many thanks for making my 60th so special. Ilios do a fabulous job with all their drivers who always appeared on time and each added their own flavor to the trip. We were never left waiting or in any doubt we would get to where we had to be on time. We did a half day Capetown private tour which was great as we could choose where we went. The full day small group tour to the Cape of Good Hope was fantastic. We were lucky to be there in winter as apparently the ques to get in can be terrible in summer. Yes the baboons steal from you, one lady had 2 tops stolen from her hand and another her handbag with all her money and passport in it which luckily a ranger retrieved. After a private full day wine tour where we managed to go to some of the more interesting older wineries was great and ended up staying the night in a fabulous french provincial style villa the Franschhoek Country House which has an interesting tasting restaurant. The experience of going to Zambia and Zimbabwe to see Victoria falls was fabulous as was the helicopter ride and the sunset cruise. The little shops in Victoria are great as is the Elephant Walk shops and craft market. The Brewery is a great place for lunch. Easy and safe to walk around these places. Possibly The Kingdom isn't the best place to stay but it was very central and an experience in itself. A huge thank you to Bench and all their associated tour companies in South Africa for making this trip so special. I have traveled all my life and would normally organise things myself but I have to say it really was worth going through Bench who knew how to put together an amazing experience.