African Scenic Safaris review 2026
Moshi · founded 2009 · 4 routes
African Scenic Safaris publishes an 8-day Lemosho price of $2,710 including park fees, which leaves about $200 per climber per day to run the climb after the $1,109 TANAPA fees. It appears on the KPAP partner register. It does not publish a porter day wage. Kilihub has not verified these figures.
Our aggregate: the review-count-weighted mean of every public rating we could find, read on 2026-08-30. Kilihub does not collect its own reviews yet.
We get nothing if you book with them. No commission, no sponsored spots, no paid placement. Every fact on this page carries a source and a date.
What we know
- Appears on the KPAP partner register
- Prices for 5 itineraries, all park-fee inclusive
- 15 of 20 standard inclusions specified
- Cancellation terms published
What we don't
- TALA licence number, not published
- Porter day wage, not published anywhere
- How much oxygen is carried per group
- Nobody has claimed this page, so nothing is verified
Gaps are not accusations. Most operators have simply never been asked.
Reviews across platforms
We show every public rating we could find rather than the flattering one. Counts matter more than scores: almost every operator on this mountain sits between 4.5 and 5.0.
| Platform | Rating | Reviews | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|
| TripAdvisor | 5.0 | 956 | read 2026-08-30 |
| SafariBookings | 5.0 | 57 | read 2026-08-30 |
| Trustpilot | 3.4 | 2 | read 2026-08-30 |
| Kilihub aggregate | 5.0 | 1,015 | 3 platforms |
Trustpilot is the only platform here that shows whether a profile is claimed, whether the company pays for review-invitation tools, and warnings about the company itself, so we weight it highest. This profile scores 3.4 from 2 reviews, claimed since undefined. Trustpilot flags: Hasn't replied to negative reviews. Two reviews (one 5-star, one 1-star); Trustpilot shows 'No recent history of asking for reviews'; paid-subscription status not visible
Routes they offer
As listed on their own site. Each link goes to our independent guide to that route, not to the operator. Listed · 2026-08
Where your money goes
Park fees are identical for every operator on the mountain. Subtract them and what is left is what this company has to run your climb: guides, porters, food, tents, transport and margin. We compute this from the published TANAPA tariff, so it is comparable across every operator here.
Prices read from the operator's own pages on 2026-08-30. Fees computed for a non-East African adult on the stated itinerary, VAT included. A low figure is a question to ask them, not a finding against them. How park fees work
What it costs
| Crew tips included | No | Listed · 2026-08 |
|---|---|---|
| Recommended tip total | $200'Around $200-$300 per climber' for the whole crew. Per-day guidance differs between pages: cost page $20 lead guide / $15 assistant / $15 cook / $8 porter; Machame page $20 / $12 / $12 / $5-7 | Listed · 2026-08 |
| Deposit | 25%Balance due 60 days before first land day; 5% surcharge for online deposit payment (northern-circuit cost page) | Listed · 2026-08 |
| Cancellation | Deposit non-refundable. 61+ days before: lose deposit; 46-60 days: 50% of package price non-refundable; 16-45 days: 75%; 15 days or less: 100%. | Listed · 2026-08 |
What's included
Every operator publishes a different list in a different order. We normalise all of them to the same 20 items. This operator specifies 15 of 20.
- Park fees
- VAT
- Rescue fee
- Crew wages
- Crew tips
- Airport transfer
- Hotel before
- Hotel after
- All mountain meals
- Drinking water
- Sleeping tent
- Mess tent
- Portable toilet
- Sleeping mat
- Sleeping bag
- Trekking poles
- Oxygen bottle
- Pulse oximeter
- Rescue insurance
- Summit certificate
✓ included · ✗ explicitly excluded · ? not stated anywhere on their site
What they publish, and what they don't
Our own reading of their website, not their claim about it. Score: 2 of 4.
| Itemised park fee breakdown | Published | Checked · 2026-08 |
|---|---|---|
| Porter day wage | Not published | Checked · 2026-08 |
| Tipping guidance | Published | Checked · 2026-08 |
| Crew size per group | Not published | Checked · 2026-08 |
Licensing and who runs the climb
| KPAP partner | YesListed as 'African Scenic Safaris | Tanzania' on the KPAP/IMEC partner list; site says it has partnered with KPAP since 2012 | Third party · 2026-08 |
|---|---|---|
| TATO member | YesSelf-declared: TATO logo in site footer and 'ATTA, TATO, IMEC, KPAP, Travelife' on SafariBookings listing; tatotz.org member register was unreachable (410 / robots) so not independently confirmed | Listed · 2026-08 |
| TALA licence number | Not providedOperators: add this → | Not provided |
| Registered name | African Scenic Safaris LtdName as shown in the site footer; no company registration number published | Listed · 2026-08 |
| Office in Tanzania | YesBlock B, 147/II, Shanty Town, Moshi (SafariBookings listing); site phone +255 784 413 801 | Listed · 2026-08 |
| Runs own climbs or resells | Runs its own climbsSite names its own Head of Kilimanjaro Mountain Guides (Joel Siao) and in-house guide team; KPAP partner listing implies own mountain crew | Listed · 2026-08 |
Safety and porters
| Guide-to-client ratio | Not providedOperators: add this → | Not provided |
|---|---|---|
| Oximeter checks per day | Not providedOperators: add this → | Not provided |
| Oxygen bottles per group | Not providedOperators: add this → | Not provided |
| Porter day wage | Not providedOperators: add this → | Not provided |
Worth knowing
- A TripAdvisor Tanzania-forum thread titled 'Beware of Africa Scenic Safaris - SCAM!!' (posted about 2016) concerns a differently named outfit, 'Africa Scenic Safaris' of Arusha. The original poster writes 'There is a big and reputable company called African Scenic Safaris. Notice the difference', and a reply from an Arusha resident also distinguishes the two. The thread does not concern this Moshi operator.
- Homepage claims '#1 on TripAdvisor' with '920 Reviews'; the TripAdvisor page itself shows 5.0 from 956 reviews and a ranking of #4 of 1,538 Tours & Activities in Moshi.
- Published prices disagree across pages: Machame 7-day is 'from $2,000 per person' for a 'Group Climb' on the route page, while the cost page says a 7-day climb 'often lands near' $2,900 and that the company does not put strangers into open groups. The Northern Circuit page quotes $15,100 for two people (about $7,550 each) next to its own $4,050-$6,350 per-person estimate.
- The cost page states a '98 percent summit success rate'; the individual route pages give 86-95% to Uhuru Peak (Machame 7-day 93.1%, Rongai 7-day 86.8%, Lemosho 7-day 94.9%).
- No porter day wage is published; the only pay figure is 'Our staff receive around $80-$150 per climber per day' for the whole crew. Legal name appears only as 'African Scenic Safaris Ltd' in the footer with no registration number, and the Trustpilot profile is thin at 3.4 from 2 reviews.
Sources
- africanscenicsafaris.com/lemosho-route/, read 2026-08-30
- africanscenicsafaris.com/machame-route, read 2026-08-30
- africanscenicsafaris.com/rongai-route, read 2026-08-30
- africanscenicsafaris.com/northern-circuit-route-cost, read 2026-08-30
- mountainexplorers.org/partnership-for-responsible-travel/climb-with-a-partner-, read 2026-08-30
- africanscenicsafaris.com/, read 2026-08-30
- africanscenicsafaris.com/booking-policy, read 2026-08-30
- africanscenicsafaris.com, read 2026-08-30
- www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g317084-d8459743-Reviews-African_Scenic_, read 2026-08-30
- www.safaribookings.com/p881, read 2026-08-30
- www.trustpilot.com/review/africanscenicsafaris.com, read 2026-08-30
- TANAPA park fee tariff, cross-checked 2026-08-30, used to compute every park fee figure on this page
Operators and climbers can both file a correction. We answer every one, and we publish what changed.