After months of research and many questions posted on this board, and all the great advice given in response, we finally have settled on our itinerary for our September 2010 trip to Kenya and Tanzania. We're using Kiliwarriors as our arranger/operator/man-on-the-ground etc., and they have been of great assistance in planning our trip. Here's the itinerary:

Late arrival in Dar es Salaam w/ overnight at Holiday Inn;
fly to Nairobi next morning, visit our fostered ele orphans at Sheldrick in the afternoon w/ overnight at Ole-Sereni Hotel;
fly to Masai Mara next morning; 4 nights Entim Camp;
fly to Arusha; 3 nights Safari Lodge Tarangire;
Drive to Ngorongoro Crater, 2 nights Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge;
Fly to Ruaha; 4 nights Kigelia Camp;
Fly to Selous; 4 nights Impala Camp;
Fly to Zanzibar; 2 nights Zanzibar Palace;
Fly to Dar late afternoon, and then to LA.

Altogether we will be "on safari" or in Zanzibar for 21 days. Hopefully, that will fill up our Africa tank so that we can go another few years before planning the next African adventure! The hard part now will be the wait. I'll be lurking on the boards to pick up more hints and tips to make the trip even better. Thanks again to all of you who have helped us put this trip together.

Sharon

P.s. I'm posting this again with the Tanzania tag since for some reason the system wouldn't let me tag it for both Kenya and Tanzania! Gotta love computers...

I'll be interested in how you like Ole-Sereni. Don't know the Tanzanian accommodations but it sounds like a fantastic trip. Very envious, goes without saying.

The only one of those I know is the Ngorongoro Sopa and we thought it perfectly nice. We'd booked it, having read some of the less than positive reviews, because of it's location and quieter access road. But actually, we liked it. Comfortable rooms, nice views, genuinely friendly and helpful staff. What more can one ask for that price/ location?

Please tell us all about it when you get back. Looks great!

I will definitely be doing a trip report when we return. I'm planning on taking my mini-computer with me to store photos and type my journal, which will be way easier than hand writing it! Especially after a couple of sundowners...