lodges in tanzania

Considering joining a group for a photo safari in Tanzania next
January. Anyone have experiences with any of these lodges as far as
game viewing (and birds) opportunities and comments about the lodging
and food? Also, is petty theft as big a problem as it is in Kenya?

Tarangire Safari Lodge 2 nights
Lake Manyara Serena Lodge 2 nights
Ndutu 5 nights
Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge 4 nights

Thanks for any help.

All of the lodges in your itinerary are good.. You have
found a smart operator, to put you at Ndutu
for a long stay in January when the migrating herds
are likely to be all around the area.
4 nights at Ngorongoro is unusual. The experience
doesn't vary much from day to day, so 3 days of game
viewing there could possibly be repetitious.

In message
Dave Patterson wrote:

All of the lodges in your itinerary are good.. You have
found a smart operator, to put you at Ndutu
for a long stay in January when the migrating herds
are likely to be all around the area.
4 nights at Ngorongoro is unusual. The experience
doesn't vary much from day to day, so 3 days of game
viewing there could possibly be repetitious.

Depends how long you spend at each place.
We can easily stay 'parked' for three hours at a time, watching,
drawing and photographing.
When we went, we booked three nights, and our tour operator thought
one day was enough, and suggested we might go to/climb some hill
nearby, can't remember the name, but even after two full days we
hadn't been to every area: just skirted the lerai forest area for
example.
Isn't there also a lake nearby which would be another possibility
(maybe mostly of interest to birders)?

Slainte

Liz


--
Virtual Liz now at http://www.v-liz.com
Kenya; Tanzania; Namibia; India; Seychelles; Galapagos
Photo blog of Make Povery History rally in Edinburgh 2 July 2005:
http://www.v-liz.com/g8rally/protest.htm

Dave Patterson writes ...

All of the lodges in your itinerary are good.

Thanks Dave.

You have found a smart operator, to put you at Ndutu
for a long stay in January when the migrating herds
are likely to be all around the area.

Good to hear ...

4 nights at Ngorongoro is unusual. The experience
doesn't vary much from day to day, so 3 days of game
viewing there could possibly be repetitious.

If this is his only mistake I'll be very satisfied Actually
everyone is nuts about photography, including birds, and typically
spend days 'working' a single locale for exceptional images, so perhaps
this is not a problem. Here are some shots one of the trip leaders
took last year for examples ... thanks for your input. Do you arrange
trips in Tanzania? We may go back next year on a smaller scale.

http://meowcat.simpli.biz/~amorris/toddtanzania/

Bill