Black Santa Safaris
- Office In:
- Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2024)
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $80 to $500 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
for a custom tour
Your request will be sent directly to the operator
If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
US
Email Dustin | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
What a great first time experience!
If its your first time or if your an experienced Safari goer, Black Santa is the way to go. He is very friendly and had good communication from the beginning. This was top notch. He laid out the days activities from start to finish. Any questions we had he was happy to answer. He made you feel comfortable, during the whole trip. On the tour he had good knowledge of what we were observing and we never felt rushed. He went above and beyond. When we come back, we will be using Black Santa again!
IE
Email Ruth Gallagher | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Smooth booking & wonderful wildlife! Five Stars but do read the notes!
Recently booked with Black Santa Safaris for their day trip to Hell's Gate & Lake Naivasha! We were picked up by our driver Stephen and headed to the Great Rift Valley viewpoint. Stephen was great, answered our questions, gave us information about where we were, what we were driving past etc it was really superb.
At the Rift Valley viewpoint we did purchase some safari hats from one of the local providers, however the string on one broke about 10 minutes into our trip which is quite disappointing considering we were promised "high quality". We were hoping to return on our way back but it was closed.
We arrived at Hell's Gate and our guide Francis organised our bikes for the afternoon. The cycling is about 16km, it is breathtaking being able to cycle alongside wildlife such as Giraffes, Zebras, Antelope, Baboons.
We arrived then at the Gorge after cycling about 8km. We were then taken by Francis down into the canyon where we walked until we came across boiling hot springs flowing down the side of the canyon. It was insane!
We came back to where we left the bicycles and saw monkeys. We cycled back and on the way my bike broke so I swapped with our guide, he walked and we cycled back to the gate. When we arrived back Stephen brought us to our next stop with was Lake Naivasha.
We were waiting for some time for another group to join us despite booking privately, but mentioned this to Stephen and we had our own boat then for the lake tour. Dennis took us out on the lake and it was truly spectacular. The birdlife is phenomenal and we got so lucky to see hippos in and out of the water. We were taken to Crescent Island and saw wilder-beast, antelope and zebras.
Upon arriving back at the camp we had some food and then Stephen brought us back to Nairobi. All in all would highly recommend, it was a fantastic day!
Worth noting:
- The bikes are small (I am 5ft 10 and their biggest was still far too small for me), not in great working condition, gears broken, no where to place a water bottle etc but we managed. To note, the terrain for Hell's Gate is very bumpy, this coupled with the not so great bicycles makes for quite a lot of discomfort.
- There was rock climbing in the park along with the opportunity to go to "Pride Rock" and a Hot Springs Waterfall. These are all additional costs which are only communicated to you upon arrival of these places. I do think that when booking a trip it should be all inclusive or at least we should be made aware that there are possible extras, if you wish to do them, so you can plan ahead accordingly.
- Make sure that if you book + pay for private they don't try to merge the groups together for the boat tour!
Email John Young | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Great Service
Herbert was absolutely wonderful. We had an illness in our group which prevented us travelling on the agreed date but Herbert went out of his way to reorganise everything so that we could go 24 hours later. It was a private tour involving just our family - 5 adults and 2 children - and so nothing was undertaken without being firstly discussed with ourselves. We visited Tsavo East and stayed in the Voi Safari Lodge for one night. The first day was fantastic and we saw many animals at close quarters including lions. All in all it was a great experience and we are extremely grateful to Herbert for providing such a great service.
VN
Email Megan | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Friendly, reliable and knowledgeable
Herbert from Black Santa was great to deal with, he responded to my quiet request quickly and answered all questions in detail.
He was flexible in adapting the tour to suit our needs for pickup in Diani and return to Nairobi.
The itinerary was well put together to maximize the short time we had at Tsavo East and we loved the accommodation at Voi Safari Lodge.
Herbert was friendly and engaging throughout our trip and very knowledgeable about all of the wildlife we saw.
He arranged our train transfer from Voi to Nairobi which we found a great way to travel.
We wish we’d had a longer time on this trip, but it was a great way to wrap up our time in Kenya and I’d happily book with Black Santa again.
AT
Email Giorgio | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
What a great time!
The overall experience was amazing! From our tour guides to the trip planning, everything was exceptionally well-organized.
The bicycle tour was fantastic! We saw giraffes, zebras, antelopes, and many more animals!
One of the highlights was definitely the boat tour and the island walk afterward. Everything was beautifully planned, and the pricing and payment process were smooth and reasonable.
DE
Email Katharina | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Black Santa was very reliable, super friedly and engaged!
Black Santa was a wonderful tour guide! With him I was doing an overnight tour (we stayed at Ngulia Lodge) to Tsavo West to do a Safari and also to see Mzima Springs as well as the Shetani Lava River. Throughout the whole process he was very engaging as well as reliable. Black Santa was always responding very quickly and also on time when we were meeting up. Before even doing the tour he was taking time to come meet me personally at my hostel and to introduce himself and go through the tour with me to figure out what my expectations and preferences are for the Safari. Also as a solo female traveller I always felt comfortable around him which is very important if you are travelling alone. I would definitely recommending doing a tour with him as he is not just a good tour guide, but also a nice companion when taking the long drive to the national park. We had a nice chat about Kenia, the wildlife and other interesting topics
SG
Email Terie | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Passionate, knowledgeable and kind
Thank you so much Gomez, you were a wonderful and accomodating guide. We had a really pleasant time together and I hope I can see you again in this lifetime! Gomez brought us cycling around the park and fed us with many info bites, not too much, just short and sweet and interesting trivia. We saw some animals, heard our voices echo, met some Maasai people. It was a special experience for us :) Thank you to everyone there who maintain the place, and protect the animals from poachers
Email Lee | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great service
Really good service, I booked with Black Santa from the UK before my trip to Diani Kenya. He picked me up from the airport and took me to my hotel and made sure I had all the information about my tour, and was available on WhatsApp for questions.
The tour itself was good and everything ran on time, I didn’t have to do anything once I got picked up from hotel, I was taken snorkelling, searching for dolphins, lunch at Wasini island and brought back by the driver. Although I didn’t see any dolphins due to the overcast sky, I did see some sea Turtles, and when snorkelling at the reef I saw plenty of tropical fish. The lunch was great and fresh and then I was brought back by the driver from black Santa tours.
All in all a great day, and would recommend any safari or tour with black Santa, very knowledgeable and hospitable guide.
From Colchester UK