Chriso,
Karibu nyumbani. Sounds like a wonderful trip. Thanks for reporting

Thanks for posting this! Can you go into more detail as to why the Ngorongoro Sopa was your least favorite place? Was it the lodge itself or something else? At what point were you informed that you'd be spending one night at Mbuzi Mawe? I'm glad that unexpected change turned out to be such a treat for you!

Chris,
Glad you had a good time. And especially glad you lucked out with a great guide.

Did you do create your own itinerary? I ask because there's a poster who's looking to go with Good Earth and she/he is considering altering some of their listed safaris.

Nice to hear from someone who stayed at Shooting Star; I remember thinking about staying there when planning Zanzibar a couple of years ago. What was the beach like there?

Thanks for posting. How lucky to be in the midst of the migration!

Chris,
I'd love to hear your thoughts on Tarangire Safari Lodge.
Thanks!

Glad to answer everyone's questions.
Ngorongoro Sopa wasn't a bad place -just that compared to everywhere we stayed, it suffered in comparison. It was the biggest lodge - huge dining room. They have severe water problems - seems that you basically have to take shower first thing in the AM or you can forget about hot water. But it has a great view of the Crater and nice big rooms.
We found about change in rooms the morning after we arrived in Arusha, but since change was to Mbuzi Mawe and this Sopa Lodge, it was fine.
If you pay Good Earth's extra for private safari, I'm sure you can alter the itinerary, as long as it makes sense geographically. Now that I've been there,I can see why the companies all seem to do the Northern circuit itinerary the way they do - distances are long, and the roads are bad!

I liked the Tarangire Tented Lodge - toilet and hot shower right in the tent. It was hot when we were there so a little hard to sleep, but that's an individual thing. Tents are close together, so can hear other people in the tents. But if you enjoy the "tent" experience and, like us, can't afford the luxury camp, it's a great alternative to doing all lodges.

The beach at the Shooting Star was gorgeous - powdery sand and very few people. When low tide goes out you really can't swim because the water recedes so severely, but that's a minor quibble.

Thanks for your report and guide suggestion. Any animal sightings you care to share?

The animal sighting our guide was most excited about was during our first few hours in the Serengetti - leopard eating a baby zebra in a tree right off the side of the road. He said it was rare to get that close at all to leopard while it was eating.
Every day that we woke up in the Serengetti, thousands of more wildebeest and zebra had moved in during the night - really great sight.

Wow - we had lions eating baby zebra but we thought we were lucky just to spy a leopard in a sauasges tree and see it move its head from one of the branch to the other - plus twitch its tail a few inches. Eating a baby zebra would have been amazing to see.