African Scenic Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 100-250 employees (Founded in 2009)
- Member Of:
- ATTA, TATO, IMEC, KPAP, Travelife, CARBON TANZANIA & FAIR VOYAGE
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $150 to $1,000 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
CH
Email Paolo | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Outstanding experience and care
We are a family of 6 and spent one week touring the Northern of Tanzania. Care for our needs was exceptional and the whole trip was an amazing experience. Our guide, Ben, has been exceptional, caring and always listening to the needs of our young kids. We would recommend him and African Scenic to everybody wanting to live Tanzania at its fullest.
CO
Email Juan Esteban Giraldo | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent. Everything according to plan. Amazing guide (John Tyson)!
We had an amazing time during our time in Tanzania. Everything went according to plan. The hotels were all better than expected, the safari days were amazing. The best part of all was our guide, John Tyson - his knowledge, his atttitude (always a big smile) and his help in absolutely EVERYTHING we needed, was unparalleled. I recommend this experience strongly and especially if you have John with you!!
Email Cath | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Fun, action packed adventure of a lifetime
Our trip with African Scenic Safaris surpassed all expectations. Thanks so much to Tom and Good Luck, our guide and chef, for making this such a fun and unforgettable experience. They were knowledgeable, positive and easy to chat to. This truly was a family trip of a lifetime. Highly, highly recommended.
IT
Email Cristina | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Reliability
Professionalism and availability have characterized the trip organized with African Scenic Safari. I recommend it
(automatic translation from Italian)
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Email Jacob | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
African Scenic Safaris is the perfect company from start to finish
My wife and I did a safari which included Tarangire, Ngorongoro, the Serengeti, and Lake Natron for five nights and six days. We had an amazing experience with African Scenic Safaris. Our guide Grayson was extremely attentive and prioritized the animals we were most excited to see. My wife loves cats and Grayson was able to spot countless lions, three serval cats, three cheetahs, and even a leopard. I was also able to see two families of jackals, which was a huge priority of mine. And every day we saw so many other animals, basically all the species you would hope to see when visiting Africa. Grayson is a skilled driver and extremely knowledgable about all of the animals and landscapes; his advanced training and education is evident. Our chef Omary was also amazing, he cooked three delicious and huge meals every day. At each meal, we had several dishes to choose from, and it was amazing to see what he could cook with just a fire as we had chosen the camping option. He cooked traditional Tanzanian, Italian, and American dishes, among others. His soups were the highlight of every meal. I would not hesitate to recommend African Scenic Safaris for your Tanzanian wildlife experience. They’re a locally run Tanzanian company that customize your safari needs. Lastly, Priyank was also extremely helpful with the booking process. My wife spoke with Priyank extensively through email to make sure that our safari would include the places we wanted to see within a budget we were comfortable with. African Scenic Safaris is the perfect company from start to finish.
CH
Email Romina | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A breathtaking experience: Kilimanjaro summit and Safari
From the first contact I had to the end of my stay in Tanzania, all the people working for African Scenic Safaris made my climbing and safari experiences unforgettable. In times of COVID-19, they provided me with all the information needed and respected the social distance and hygenic measures in every step of the process. For example, visitors group were reduced to respect distance, employees wore masks when the distance was not possible and frequently disinfected their hands, vehicules and other materials. I felt very safe ! In particular, my kilimankaro trek was wonderful: I enjoyed the company of my female mountain guide and the crew. In fact, African Scenic Safrais is one of the few enterprises that hired female mountain guide. As a solo female trekker, this was very important for me. In addition, they are part of a large projetct to improve training and working conditions for porters. I felt very glad to contribute to this. The Safari was also well organized and the guide and cook were exceptional! I learned so much about the National parks, wildlife and ways of living in Tanzania. I highly recommend all people interested in visiting the beautiful country of Tanzania to contact African Scenic Safaris for a once in a lifetime experience!
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Email Susan | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Superbly organized and implemented from start to finish...I HIGHLY recommend African Scenic Safaris!
Our African Scenic safari was seamlessly organized and incredibly well done. We spent 10 nights and 11 days enjoying game drives where we not only spotted animals, but were provided with a detailed explanation of their behavior by our amazing guide, Tom. His depth of knowledge and interest in the wildlife and landscape added so much to our already incredible game drives. Tom often knew what the animals were going to do or where they would head next and carefully positioned our vehicle to gain the best possible way for viewing and photographing the animals.
I have to add that the safari vehicle itself was in great condition both mechanically and the interior, with a small refrigerator to keep water cold, a charging station and plenty of room for everyone to have a wonderful view at all times. The seats were comfortable and water was in the car ready for us daily. Tom took care of all the lunch logistics at each camp so that we could head out and maximize our time for spotting animals. Our own wishes as to which animals we were interested in finding each day were prioritized, and our guide used his networking skills and knowledge to get us there.
While planning our safari, my many questions were answered promptly and in detail by Simbo and the African Safari staff. I felt that organizing my safari to suit our timing and what we wanted to see was a priority to them. The wildebeast migration was a tremendous spectacle!
I can't recommend African Scenic Safari enough and would not hesitate to recommend them to friends and family. A safari is an amazing experience and the folks at African Scenic Safaris made it easy, comfortable and incredibly enjoyable.
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Email Steve | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Another 5 Star African Scenic Safari
I just completed my second African Scenic Safari with my wife and two friends, who were first timers. Simbo, the owner, and staff did another amazing job from providing booking and lodging accommodations, recommendations for each park, Tarangire, Serengeti Central and Serengeti North, and assigning us an extremely knowledgeable and professional guide who worked tirelessly during our 10 day trip. The wildlife and wildlife behavior viewing was simply incredible due to our guide's very real expertise on animal behavior, herd movements and in-depth knowledge of the various areas of the parks we visited. We have heard similar praise from others as to other guides employed by this small company. Guiding and wildlife viewing takes patience, photography even more-so, and our guide on each day, whether morning game drives or sunset scenics knew exactly where and how to position us for best advantage. Because of this we captured amazing images of leopard and cub with a kill, a cheetah kill, lion stalks and charges, elephant herd behavior, cape buffalo mini-migrations and were placed for two days in the middle of the wildebeest migration and a river crossing and much more. I could go further, but have to emphasize that without our guide's expertise none of this would have happened. The wildlife viewing and tour once again exceeded expectations in all respects and I would not hesitate to use African Scenic in the future. I fact, my safari companions already want to go back. Since 2016 we have referred many friends to this company who have returned from safari with similar experiences. If you're interested in the Northern Circuit, this is the company to use. Well done again, 5 plus stars.
NL
Email Christine | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing safari tour
We had a great week of safari in Tanzania by African Scenic Safaris. We were in Tanzania last November for two weeks. Our guide Tom showed us the beauty of different kinds of national parks. We went to Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro crater, Serengeti and Lake Natron. The difference of landscapes and views is breathtaking. Tom was a really good guide for us. He learnt us a lot about all the wildlife we saw on the road. His bird knowledge is amazing! We enjoyed the safaris very much. Thank you. Justin and Christine
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Email Taffy | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A Perfect Holiday Thanks to African Scenic Safaris
We worked with African Scenic Safaris to arrange our safari and related activities in Tanzania for a 12-day, January 2019 safari (including Tarangire National Park, Ndutu area within the Ngorogoro Conservation area, Ngorogoro Crater, and the Serengeti), a day in Managua on Kilimanjaro, “cultural” experiences with tribes (a bush walk, observing blacksmiths at work for making traditional weapons and jewelry, and a visit to a traditional Maasai village), as well as all lodging and guides. I have been fortunate to travel extensively around the world for holidays as well as work and would put this trip at the top of the list. African Scenic Safaris – owned and managed by husband and wife team, Amanda and Simbo, created a seamless itinerary and experience for my husband and me. They have extensive knowledge of the country and relationships between the time of year and what we would want and be able to see on safari. They customized our trip to fit our interests, based on email ‘interviews’ about preferences for experiences, types of lodging, any special needs/requests, and time available. They helped us problem solve when we had to postpone our trip for medical reasons, keeping any losses to a minimum and rescheduling our trip as soon as we were ready – and do so in such a gracious way.
There are hundreds of agencies available for organizing a safari. I cannot imagine any company organizing a more worthwhile experience than African Scenic Safaris did for us.
Below are additional details, for those who may wish specific examples about lodging, guides, and general comfort.
***** Additional Details *****
LODGING: We think of ourselves as the adventurous backpackers of our youth, but in our 70s know that this is not our reality. Amanda was able to create a series of lodging experiences that were authentic to a safari experience, while keeping our comfort in mind throughout. We wanted to experience tent camps in the middle of the parks for part of the trip but were okay with lodges in the parks for part of the trip. They set up our lodging in a perfect order. We started in two Angata tent camps over 5 nights in Tarengire National Park and in the Migration area of Ndutu. Service at each was exemplary and lodging was comfortable with ensuite bathrooms, hot water, but very tent-like in feel. We even had Internet and chargers in our room as our tent was near the lounge/dining tent. We could hear lions at night as well as water buffalo, but felt perfectly safe at all time. As we moved to the Serengeti, we stayed in Kubakuba Tent Ldoge, a highlight of the trip – fabulous views, beautiful lodging, outstanding food, an infinity pool that overlooked the Serengeti and beautiful sunsets from our room’s deck. Sopa Lodge, next, was perfectly comfortable and while not as much fun as the previous places, situated most conveniently to the entrance to Ngorogoro Crater, and in a room that overlooked the crater from a little sitting area with full windows. One of our favorite spots was a lovely tent camp – Kisime – on Lake Eyasi, one we would have liked to have visited for more than one night. The order of lodging was perfect while the order of sites could not have been more wisely chosen.
GUIDES: Throughout our guides were personable, knowledgeable, helpful, and addressed both similarities and differences in my husband’s and my interests. I appreciated how our guide for the safari, Hafidhi, balanced between my focus on photography with my husband’s more general interests in animal behavior and local culture. Hafidhi took me on one evening and one before-b’fast drive where I could concentrate on photography. He planned with us each evening on what we hoped to see the next day and then followed through – we were never disappointed! He could spot the smallest movement (e.g., a leopard’s ear wiggling in the grasses), size up the situation, and then would determine whether and how long we should wait. That wiggling ear led to us witnessing (and me photographing) the leopard catching a reebok, dragging it to a tree, then up the tree to settle in for dinner. Similarly, we witnessed mating lions and mating zebras. We saw a lioness catch a warthog and carry it off to her cubs. We saw cheetah brothers and a cheetah mom and cub. In fact, there was not a single animal on our list to wishes and dreams that we did not see in action.
FOOD: While not a ‘foodie’ destination, each of the areas provided food that was adequate to our needs and in Kubakuba and Kisime in particular, the food was excellent.
VEHICLE: As is typical, our vehicle was a Toyota Landrover with a top that is raised for easy and safe viewing of animals. For the two of us, we had a six-seater (drive/passenger, then two additional rows), giving us plenty of space and viewpoints for photographing and viewing on the game drives.
