I booked the Grand Tour of Africa through my local travel agent with Bench Africa and as I was travelling alone and this was my first trip to Africa I was slightly nervous. My agent assured me that I would be well looked after every step of the way and he was right! I received detailed documents from Bench Africa with added tips which were very useful. The Grand Tour is in two parts, Wildlife & Warriors from Johannesburg to Durban, then a short flight to Port Elizabeth and then a Garden Route tour from there. So we had two different guides, Walter and Abdullah, both were excellent. A party of 14 for the first part and 12 for the second. Another couple from Australia and myself and the rest from UK. Kruger was a highlight and we saw the Big 5 really quickly as well as most of the Ugly 5 as well as many more! The guides in Kruger keep in contact by radio and are excellent at finding where the animals are. I was amazed to discover that Kruger was twice the size of Wales! We returned for an optional night safari which was incredible too. It was totally amazing to see the animals so close up, just that made the tour worthwhile. So many included activities and a really busy tour but we saw so much. So many animals, beautiful scenery, famous places like Table Mountain, Cape of Good Hope etc and visited wineries, ostrich farm and saw the main cities too. We were offered extra tours, one was an elephant sanctuary where I got to take an elephant for a walk and another was Tenikwa Big Cat Reserve where we had afternoon tea with a cheetah prowling outside OUR enclosure and later went for a walk with him. The hotels on the tour were excellent, a stand out was Hunters Country Lodge where the finest details are included, an open fire lit in your cottage while you are at dinner and hot water bottle in the bed were just a couple! I also enjoyed The Benjamin in Durban, smaller rooms and older hotel but amazing service, so friendly and helpful and the open cocktail cabinet in the evenings was an enjoyable place to meet people. The only hotel that wasn't up to standard was Surval which had been changed from my itinerary and was a disappointment. The hotel rooms although large were very dated and they need refurbishing badly. The meals included in the tour were excellent and food in South Africa is very reasonable when we had to pay for our own. When we did the wineries tour we had 3 on the itinerary but when we got to the 3rd one (Spier) there was no booking so we had to leave. This really wasn't an issue as I was feeling that maybe 3 wine tastings in one day was too much! So although a couple of glitches nothing major and certainly didn't have any effect on the trip at all.

Maria organised our recent adventure to Tanzania and Kenya. The whole trip worked like clockwork - every pickup, every driver, every tour – all were on-time and everyone we met were incredibly friendly and helpful . The Tanzania Tour, over 6 days,was a wonderful experience with a great bunch or fellow travellers. Our fly ins to the camps at Amboseli and the Masai Mara were wonderful with luxury "tents" and such friendly helpful staff at both Satao Elerai in Amboselii and Sarova Mara in the Masai Mara. At Satao Elerai, we woke up to the sight of Mt Kilimanjaro and zebras outside our tent. We sat on the terrace watching the elephants, zebras, giraffes and antelopes using the water hole. Maria's knowledge of Africa is amazing and her advice on our itinerary was invaluable. We will be calling Maria to arrange our next adventure in Africa.

Our favourite holiday ever! Karen's pre-tour organisation was excellent. The on-the-ground tour companies in Africa were efficient and timely, the accommodation was often very special and our guides were friendly and knowledgeable. We couldn't believe how close we were to the animals without disturbing them in any way. We hope to return one day soon.

Great easy organised safari via Bench Africa. The Journey was an adventure that was life changing. Will use Bench again for our return trips.

We used Bench Africa for a recent safari/holiday in Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe - It was even better than we imagined. Service from local in-country providers was excellent; hotels/lodges and camps were all very good: all the arrangements went off without a hitch and were on schedule. As for the scenery, people and wildlife it was truly memorable trip! Advice from Bench in preparation for the travel was very prompt and helpful. Thoroughly recommended.

In June this year we travelled to Botswana,Zimbabwe & SA with Bench, the second time we have used Bench. Arrangements made by Katelyn Quinlan were perfect and took into account my wife's mobility issues. Needless to say the Safari Camps were excellent, the wildlife outstanding and the whole experience was a trip of a lifetime. We will use Bench again and would highly recommend them to anyone planning a trip to Africa.

Bench Africa, through Maria, exceeded our hopes and expectations in advising and booking our itinerary for us. All of our bookings and connections throughout Africa proceeded without hitch and we couldn't be happier with the quality of the accommodation and experiences. We particularly appreciated Maria providing additional advice to us on the tricky issue of tipping at game parks. The highlight of our trip was our stay at the Santuary Makanyane Safari Lodge in the Madakwe reserve. The whole team at the lodge was friendly and welcoming and went out of their way to make our stay special. They found the perfect blend of luxurious, but relaxed. The food and accommodation was absolutely outstanding - we loved the fact that the open fire was waiting for us in our chalet when we returned after dinner each evening. On our game drives we saw a wide range of animals, including cheetah, lions, giraffes, elephants, buffalo, rhino, hippo, hyenas etc. Pulling up for our evening sundowner (or two) was a highlight and we really appreciated the company and insights provided by our guide Dylan. I would highly recommend Santuary Makanyane to anyone contemplating a once in a lifetime safari experience.

The whole trip was sensational, from go to whoa. All the arrangements happened with a minimum of fuss and the hotels were top notch and the people involved in the whole exercise were very good. I would recommend that anyone who is going on this trip ask for Emanuel, a guide/driver with Leopard Tours. His knowledge and experience were exceptional. I was also very impressed with the work of Hank who kept an eye on things for my entire trip, even to the point of picking up that one flight had been changed, meaning I would have missed a connecting flight home and the noticing that another flight had been inexplicably cancelled. It was good to know that I had that level of backup. I cannot recommend Bench highly enough and would go with them again without hesitation.

Bench was a fantastic company to deal with for our African holiday. A family of 6 adults we all had an opinion of what we wanted out of a holiday . Bench organised everything via the phone and emails, they were prompt and nothing seemed too much trouble. Everything went according to plan . Transfers, internal flights, wonderful accommodation and delicious food for for all diets . We saw so many animals every game drive was exhilarating and great fun . I would definitely recommend Bench for any African holiday .

Lyndal from Bench Africa did an amazing job in organising our private trip to Africa. We visited four countries and every transfer went to plan with delightful people meeting us at every point. The game camps were excellent with Savanna in Sabi Sand a highlight. I would certainly choose to travel with Bench Africa again.