Bench goes bush with new air options
SYDNEY – Safari specialist Bench International, encouraged by additional air links between Australia and Africa, has added new itineraries in Kenya and Tanzania in its 2010 brochure.
Product director Fiona Orton said that with South African Airways, Emirates and Kenya Airways now offering flights from Australia to Nairobi, and Qatar Airways flying in to Dar Es Salaam, consumer demand had justified a wider choice of programmes in the region.
Flights by V Australia to Johannesburg, launching early in 2010, are predicted to attract additional business to South Africa.
Orton said Austral Air flights had also opened opportunities for Australians to enjoy beach resort holidays in Indian Ocean destinations like Reunion, adding to a choice of packages already available to high quality resorts in Mauritius, Zanzibar and Mozambique.
In Tanzania new product is centred around the Serengeti National Park, with programmes offering a three-day fly-in safari, a seven-day combination of Serengeti, Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro Crater and a seven-day walking safari in the Serengeti.
In Kenya, there’s a new 13-day Highlights of East Africa tour of Kenya and Tanzania, an Exclusive Kenya by Air itinerary and an eight-day Walking in the Footsteps of the Masai adventure.
In southern Africa a return of interest in Zimbabwe, particularly in areas remote from the capital Harare, has prompted Bench to introduce a deluxe fly-in safari which takes in Victoria Falls, Hwange National Park and the isolated Mana Pools region.
Bush camps in Botswana’s Khwai area, a tented safari in the Kruger and Sabi Sand areas of South Africa and a four-day Shiduli Experience in the Edeni Private game reserve are other new options
Ian Jarrett
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