Bench Africa Opiniões 

Stress free holiday with excellent accommodation in good locations,seamless transfers and a fantastic 5* private camping safari experience.

Steph and Maria from Bench Africa were such a delight in assisting us with our first trip to South Africa in August/September. It was nice to receive the A5 spiral bound itinerary detailing our whole trip - something we will have as a keepsake. Everything went smoothly from the transfers - Johannesburg to Cape Town, on to Franschhoek and finally Hoedspruit to Garonga Safari Camp.

The accommodation in Cape Town and Franschhoek were wonderful - little touches like the the welcome basket of fruit, hot water bottles at night and a note telling us what the weather would be the next day was nice as well as having the shuttle service. Steph was able to give us recommendations on day tours for our free days and suggested places to try - food wise! - which we took up. Great choices!

The staff at Garonga Safari Camp were excellent and we experienced the bush bath and the bush sleep out - maybe next time we will not endure gale force winds! Our guide, Josia and tracker, Richard made this trip such an amazing experience and ensured we saw lots of animals - some up very close!

We would highly recommend Steph and the Bench Africa team to organise another trip in the future.

Had a great trip and luckily all 16 people on the truck got on well. It is hard to travel for 3 weeks with a number of people and not have issues but we had no problems. I think the Nomad crew were an essential part of the success of our tour.

Very well organized safari to Kenya. Good guides aand drivers. Superior accomodation

Over 4 weeks 'safari' in Africa, all planned and booked with Bench's help, and not a glitch. Apparently, this is pretty unusual for anything in Africa! Their knowledge and expertise in providing an appropriate itinerary to match our needs (animals and scenery, not civilization) ,and in setting the appropriate expectations for our holiday, made for a very smooth and extremely enjoyable experience. There were 4 of us travelling in a group, which turned out to be optimal for virtually all aspects of the journey through Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya (with a small break to finish in Zanzibar). The accommodation was perfect for our needs, well chosen to optimise our time in each location, with daily excursions focused on what we wanted to see. Thoroughly recommend.

Great service and advice from Lyndal Montgomery. Lyndal made the process very easy, organised us to have accommodation near our friend also travelling and recommended good pre-accommodation. Lyndal was also reassuring for a first time traveller to Makutsi Safari Lodge where the animals actually roam free. It was a wonderful experience from start to finish. Thank you Lyndal and Bench Africa. I would highly recommend.

Our trip to East Africa was trouble free. Great guides who knew their area well. We felt safe and looked after all the way. Accommodation choices were fantastic and the itinerary flowed well. I would recommend Bench to anyone looking for a comfortable trouble free trip to this amazing continent.

We first came across Bench Africa via their great tour booklet at the travel agents. We then went to a travel expo and spoke to Nicky who was absolutely bursting with enthusiasm about us booking a trip. Our plans which thanks to Bench all came together without a hitch - we stayed at Chobe Marina Lodge in Botswana, then onto Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, then a night in Johannesburg before finishing off at Makanyane in Madikwe. Everything was booked and noted for us in a folder with loads of extra information, contact numbers for pick ups along the way etc.
I think for piece of mind it is SO worth using a trustworthy and reliable company when booking a trip to Africa as you do not want to waste a minute of your time trying to arrange things once you get there.
I can't wait to go back to Africa and experience even more.
Thanks Bench!

We recently visited Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania. Bench were recommended by friends and we worked with Steph to organise our trip. Right from the outset her knowledge of travel in Africa and her professionalism were outstanding. Her suggestions, recommendations and travel tips were spot on and made our trip an amazing experience. For example Steph suggested we visit the Gorillas in Rwanda early in our trip. If you are unwell at the time you wish to make the trek, you may not be allowed to visit the gorilla group (to protect them from human diseases). Another factor was that the treks (we did two) can be quite difficult and with our energy levels high early in the trip it was certainly better than attempting the treks after two or three weeks of travelling.
The tours, lodges and tented camps Steph included in our itinerary made for a variety of excellent game viewing and experiences. Also, on one occasion we had a flight cancelled (not booked by Bench) which disrupted our travel plans prior to picking up a tour that Bench had booked. We contacted the Bench "help desk" and they promptly and professionally contacted the tour and transfer companies as well as our hotel for the night to update them on our delayed arrival. In summary, we would highly recommend Steph and Bench for any travel in Africa and wouldn't hesitate to use them again in future.

Bench Travel was recommended to us by a friend and did not disappoint. Stephanie organised pretty much every detail of our trip which went seamlessly and safely from start to finish. Her recommendations of accomodation and game parks for our budget were outstanding.
We had no idea what to expect from our trip. Stephanie organised it so that our experiences every day literally got better and better. We couldn't have been happier.

Excellent organisation. Lydal put together the holiday of a life time. Everything was well planned and went smoothly. Extra help while we were away was readily available and helpful. A fantastic experience. We will definitely be using Bench again!

The booking process with Maria at Bench was seamless and her expertise and knowledge is impressive. We have been to Africa 3 times and still Maria manages to exceed our expectations with recommending amazing properties that suit our travel style and budget. We'll be booking again with Bench for our next African adventure...hopefully soon. Thanks for a truly memorable experience!

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.

Bench were amazing and organised the perfect holiday in South Africa for us. We were kept informed all the way during the arrangements and received a lovely package with lots of goodies before our departure. Our lovely consultant Steph chose the ideal locations for us to visit and the accommodation she selected was first class all the way, couldn't be happier!

Fantastic experience from the booking all the way through to returning home!

The plan - all of the places Bench sent us to had their own individual style and character which provided a rich and diverse experience.

They provided expert advice on temperatures and clothing choices for each safari.

The timings recommended by Bench; I.e doing the Southern African safari first guaranteed that we would see some of the Wilder beast migration during our East African safari.

The first two camps in Botswana gave us a close up of the animals we had come to see, because they had private concessions which allowed the cars to go off-road.

Kadizora & Linyantee bush camps were both excellent, and the Chobe Princess was very relaxing and had excellent game viewing.

Flights between camps in the Southern safari really optimised our game drive time and worked well.

The two hotels in JBurg and the Royal Livingston were good.

All the camps in the East African safari were good and whilst the game viewing was on-road; Ngorongoro, Ambercelli, the Serengeti and Masi Mara all delivered great viewing.

Karen Blixon was the pick of the Eastern safari camps.

We were in Southern Africa for 2 weeks and everything ran smoothly. Everything ran on time and we never had a worry. Would recommend bench to anyone

The start of out trip to the Zambezi Queen experience on the Chobe River was superb, apart from the customs experience going in and out – but it was African! Superb accommodation, views and activities, with amazing staff; well worth having the experience

We lost a case coming in to Windhoek, but the company took charge and found it for us and had it delivered day 2 of the trip; they were really well organised, and we had our own vehicle and guide – I was expecting to have to share with at least a few other folk, but there was only myself and the wife on our twosome with our personal guide Juan. He was fantastic, so thoughtful and attentive and so very knowledgeable about his country, it’s geology, floras and fauna – and even its astronomy. A magic person who looked after us magnificently for the entire tour; Another plus was the scenic flight to Swakopmund from Sossusvlei – this is an absolute must; it’s amazing seeing the desert and dunes on the ground, but from the air its absolutely breath-taking; it knocks the spots off the ballooning which is essentially 45 mins of up and down, with no flight path over the dunes. Visited them all – Dune 45, Big Daddy, Big Mama and a whole pile more; great elephant encounters, and lessons on tracking 😊 Superb – and more wildlife than you could possibly want – the only thing we didn’t see was leopard, and that’s really not surprising.

It then just got better and better with a great catch up with our mates in Swakopmund, a geological wonderland in Damaraland, the delights of the Etosha and then a final stop at the Cheetah park as a break before back to Windhoek & home; millions of photographs as per usual!

The one thing we have learned now, is that for us fuddy-duddies, the last day and night of the trip needs to be activity free, as we need the time to just catch up with what we’ve experienced and have a gentle repack before the long aircraft hauls begin.
Bench put together a remarkable Namibian experience for us and we had a wonderful trip, We will have to go back sometime, as there is still the North and South of the Country to do, and Juan, our guide had some lovely suggestions for a combination air/road safari next time 😊 Ultimate Safari’s, his company specialise in these boutique safari’s with Bench, and they are very, very good at it.

We thoroughly enjoyed our experience with the Bench Tour we took in Kenya, but do have some comments about its organization. Our Tour Operator at Escape Travel came to our rescue when our Emirates flight to Dubai was cancelled at Sydney Airport. After reorganising a trip to Dubai, then Nairobi via Singapore, she contacted Bench Tours who, knowing we had been delayed and would not arrive at Nairobi in time to meet the safari departure time, rearranged our accommodation at the Intercontinental Nairobi and arranged a flight out next morning to meet the Safari driver in the Masai Mara. Our driver, Kevin, was terrific. We saw many animals each day and Kevin did all he could to make sure we enjoyed the experience.
We stayed at three Sopa Lodges and the final night at Sweetwaters Tented Camp. Every meal at each Lodge was well presented with great variety. The staff at all Lodges was friendly and went out of their way to be helpful. We could not fault the service or accommodation.
The only problem we had with the tour was the final day. After breakfast, we returned to Nairobi, a four hour drive, but our flight did not leave until 22:45 (10:45p.m.) and we had nowhere to go! Kevin, our driver, contacted Bench Tours and they gave him permission to take us to an hotel for lunch, but we still arrived at the International Airport about 15:30 (3:30p.m.). The International Airport would not let us enter for some time and, when we were finally allowed in, we sat for many hours waiting to be 'processed'.
Perhaps Bench could include an extra tour on the last day - or even include lunch at the last Lodge.