Garonga Safari Camp

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.

We had a wonderful trip and everything worked perfectly. Both Garonga and Makweti were excellent choices and staying more days at fewer places allowed us to enjoy more of the African bush,animals and atmosphere instead of hurrying from one camp to the next. Both camps had good waterholes which animals visited frequently so even though Garry did not go on every drive he saw plenty of animals. I always look for a camp with a waterhole. We saw the big five at Garonga - terrific leopard sighting in a tree above our vehicle and then a leopard fight and the looser just missed falling in our vehicle. No leopard at Makweti but plenty of animals and easier travelling on Makweti Safari. At Makweti we had an elephant drinking from one of the swimming pools. Food was very very good at both places and accomodation wonderful. The sleep out at Garonga Is a must do. Exciting and a little scary but a great experience We saw three lions at the dam I fronton the sleep out while having dinner. They gave us a whistle and foghorn to scare away the animals if necessary! They have not lost anyone in twenty years so I guess it all works. We probably liked Makweti a little more but it was a close choice. The food was exceptional at Makweti seeing animals a little easier and zebras walking under our deck wonderful. Test our guide was exceptional and made every trip fun . We had three different guides at Garonga which I though al little strange although it did not worry us too much but the last guide we had was the best. At Garonga the drinks were paid for and we could help ourselves which is an advantage. At Makweti we had to pay for drinks which were a reasonable price but you needed someone to serve you. Note at Makweti there is NO phone reception which did not worry us. At both places there is wifi in the main meeting areas Moore Quarters was once again great. I would recommend staying there. Easy walking to great restaurants and shops and supermarket and pharmacy near by . We walked to the waterfront And also used the free shuttle . Breakfast was very good Thanks for organising a fantastic holiday Bench organised a truly wonderful holiday and everything ran smoothly. I cannot wait to see more Of Africa.