Franschhoek Country House & Villas

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.

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.

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

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 .