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Stephanie Osorio

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Stephanie Osorio
Stephanie Osorio
Mauritius,Tanzania,Uganda

Where in Africa have you travelled?

Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Uganda, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and Morocco.

What is your favourite African hidden gem?

Singita Explore, a mobile camp in the Grumeti region, in Tanzania. You scarcely see another vehicle, there’s amazing food and wine, a huge en-suite tent, and the excitement of going to sleep knowing that animals are free to roam right through camp!

Bio

Stephanie was born and raised in England, and during her studies for an Anthropology degree at Edinburgh University, she first travelled to South Africa to research for her dissertation.  This trip became the first of many, and on completing university, she spent three months backpacking through Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique. Since working in the African travel industry, Stephanie has been fortunate to experience the more luxurious side of travel to Africa. However, she still believes the country and people make your safari truly unforgettable. Her favourite moments include summiting Kilimanjaro at sunrise, diving untouched reefs in Mozambique, gorilla trekking in Uganda and self-driving through the South African Winelands, and the African sunsets, which never fail to amaze!

Certainly well-versed in luxury tailor-made travel, Steph is excited to share her expertise, passion and knowledge with you all!

Meet the Team

Julie is one of our longest serving members, having worked for Bench for nearly 20 years. Julies love for Africa first began when she experienced her first safari to South Africa and Botswana.“Words cannot express what it felt like – it’s not only about the animals, that is a bonus. It is about the people, the landscape, the simplicity of life and how you realise the simple things in life are what ground us and how we forget that. Once you have gone there, you come back with a little piece of the magic that stays with you and makes you want to go back.

Julie De Palo

Operations and Groups Director / Africa Expert
Lara Behrens was born and raised in Kenya and spent several years living in Ireland and England before migrating to Australia. Lara has worked at Bench Africa for over six years and previously ran an events company bringing with her a fantastic new insight and a wealth of marketing skills to Bench. Lara's family owns and operates safari camps in Kenya so she grew up on safari and has travelled extensively around Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and South Africa.

Lara Behrens

Marketing & Communications Director
It had always been Maria’s dream to travel to Africa on a safari, and after her first trip she knew she would just have to keep going back. Maria’s first African experience was joining a 7 week tour through Africa. Visiting East Africa, Maria was lucky enough to experience her first ‘Big 5’ safari in Tanzania which included a visit to the Ngorongoro Crater. More recently Maria visited Namibia for the first time, self driving around this huge country with its amazing landscapes, game viewing in the mind blowing Etosha National Park, but the biggest achievement of the trip was summiting Namibia’s highest sand dune “Big Daddy” – as Maria says “it was a killer, but definitely worth it”.

Maria Hindson

Africa Expert
Stephanie Osorio

Stephanie Osorio

Africa Expert
Eric grew up in Cape Town, in South Africa and moved to Australia in 2011. Since then he has been back to Africa over 15 times, mostly on safari. He has been with the Bench team for over 2 years and promoting Africa as a destination for 20 years. Nothing compares to being on a safari and once Coronavirus is over and it is safe to travel he just can’t wait to head out to Africa. Doesn’t matter where – just somewhere out in the African bush.

Eric Vos

Africa Expert
Brett has been working at Bench for 4 years and within the travel and tourism industry for over 30 years in various capacities of a support nature. He is our guy behind the scenes keeping our reservations system ticking over nicely and making our lives so much easier; ensuring our Africa experts have all the support they need.

Brett Palser

Graham Werner South Africa

Graham Werner

State Manager - QLD & VIC