sopa lodges in disrepair

I stayed at 3 Sopa Lodges at the end of August - they were in very good condition. Ask your travel agent which lodges he/she is talking about and I'll let you know whether they are the ones I stayed at.

Hi
I was speaking to Sopa lodge today and asked if they were renovating, they said nope :-)
I think this probably refers to Hotels & Lodge who are renovating.

We recently stayed at a Sopa lodge near or in Tarangire, I think. At any rate we kept saying it seemed as though East Germans (sorry, 70's travel experience) had built and were running it. Not nice, never did feel comfy taking off shoes in room, carpet felt filthy, tolietries were slim and sparce, food was ugh. But by comparison we only then stayed in Serena lodges which are very nice. If we return, I am sure we will avoid Sopa if possible. But if you take the attitude that it is just a room and you're doing far other interesting things, who cares? We certainly survived it.

Wow - we had very different experiences. Are you sure it was the Tarangire Sopa (you do say you "think" you stayed at one in Tarangire). I stayed at the Tarangire Sopa 3.5 weeks ago and found it to be quite nice. Granted, buffet food is generally mediocre at best - but for being in a National Park in East Africa it was okay. The Tarangire Sopa buildings were quite modern and updated, as were the dining, bar, and reception areas. In fact, I would say that the dining room was quite nice, with a wall of windows looking out on the surrounding land, and interesting detailing in the woodwork overhead. The rooms are in buildings designed to mimic the style of the huts that the Maasai live in - except that they are huge, with each one being two stories and housing at least 4 rooms. Our carpeting was quite nice, there was a sitting room (seemed like a waste), a very large bedroom with two large double beds, and a large bathroom (too large actually). I'd be hardpressed to see the "East German" link here. The only problem I saw was the grout around the bathtub was not as clean as it should have been. Our bathroom had at least 4 small bottles of all the things you'd expect - shampoos, body lotion, soap, etc. I also stayed in "Wildlife" Lodges (the brand name of another company) above Lake Manyara and in the Serengeti - I thought those facilities were actually more charming and fit their settings better, but they were dated and a bit worn since they were built 30-40 years ago.

We stayed at Tarangire Sopa in February and it was average for the price - it was the most expensive of the lodges on our safari and whilst on appearance it looked great we felt the little details were missing that we experienced at the cheaper ones in Ngorongoro and Manyara.

The screens were all split (a bathroom full of mosquitos where we had it nowhere else) and the cleanliness was questionable - the restaurant was appaling. Our guide ate with us each night during the safari, my hubbie and he both ordered and steak and I am not joking our guides steak was half the size of my husband's...needless to say it left a bad taste...

Generally, despite that, it was fine, but over-rated. We thought the staff were great but the management could lift their game on the personal touches. Tarangire is the place to see elephants though

I stayed in several of these Sopa and Serena lodges, and they all look the same. I don't have any complain about contruction works going on, but I do have to complain about their "Disneyland" feel. They are absolutely PACKED with hundreds of tourists and you really feel like you are treated like a simple dollar bill walking around. the food is mediocre and the service really "commercial". I wuld not recommend stayig there, unless you have no choice. they have no genuine character.

We found the Sopa lodges to be pretty nice, actually way more luxury than we needed. I don't know when #6 visited, but when we were there it was not packed at all. And the Sopa hotels don't even have hundreds of rooms. Granted, we were there in the low season (May) but I still have a hard time believing that it suddenly turns so commercial in the high season.

But I think the most important point is that it is just a place to sleep. You're there for a safari--so you'll be out in the field from early morning to evening. You just need a place to sleep, really, and the Sopa lodges work just fine for that. The view from the Ngorongoro Sopa rooms is great, and you can see wildlife from your balcony in the Serengeti Sopa rooms.

Ndutu Lodge (just south of the Serengeti) and Kirurumu Tented Camp (Lake Manyara) were admittedly nicer places but the Sopa lodges were fine. Ndutu in particular has excellent wildlife right around camp, and you can do a walking safari from there.

We also stayed at Seronera Wildlife Lodge in the Serengeti. This one's rooms and food were not great, but the location was just fantastic. It is built into rock kopjes and there is wildlife all around the lodge grounds, even in the center courtyard. There are lots of hyrax, mongoose and monkeys, and you can see big game right around the grounds. To me, that is the most important part. A bed is a bed.

it was in late july, high season. I went to one in Lake Manyara, and one in Tarangire... they were enough for my taste.

I don't disagree with Cresti's comments about the quality of the food or the general "disneyland" feel - the costumes, birthday singing, and entertainment seemed contrived rather than authentic. I believe Cresti was there in July of 2006 - when I was at Sopa Lodges in August 2007 I thought they were in good condition.