The Royal Livingstone

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.

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.