New York Times Travel Editor

Dear Editor,

We have traveled in Africa on multiple occasions over ten years and have had the pleasure of the full treatment with a wonderful trip organized by Abrecombie and Kent but since that time have felt comfortable enough to make more of our own decisions regarding our trips.

During the last trip to Arusha, Tanzania, we encountered serendipity. the kind of thing that rarely happens but changes an ordinary trip into an extraordinary one.

While our group was providing medical care and building a classroom building for a parochial school about 20 km from Arusha proper, one of the members of our group mentioned a discover during the noon meal. "There is a new safari lodge about 100 yards form the campus." This piqued my interest and a short visit produced a wonderful vista of a large lodge with 14 foot overhangs covering a wonderful casual space looking out on Mount Meru to the west and Mount Kilimanjaro to the northeast. Pursuing the tariff card resulted in a prompt decision to move for four nights of our extended stay from "contract quarters" to the luxury of Ngurdoto Lodge.

Five separate "African individual lodges" are set on the edge of the property overlooking Kilimanjaro where the play of morning and evening sunset provided a constantly changing light show. A beautiful swimming pool with water flowing naturally out of the rock grotto at one end of the pool give wonderfully relaxing swims after a hard day at the clinic, or whatever the daily activity has been. The menu was wonderful! The hosts of this marvelous new addition to the African safari lodge scene are even more wonderful than the setting, accommodations and the meals.

Dick and Dolores Novak have the life experiences that would delight the curiosity and enliven the conversation of any traveler. A life long advertising executive and a business manager they have lived in Jeddah Saudi Arabia, Nairobi Kenya, Iran and have traveled in all the other places that you can think of. Dolores shops the local markets with her assistants for the freshest of local produce. Their willingness to produce wonderful meals and terrific ambience created a truly memorable 31st birthday party for our architect son who was with us helping with the classroom construction.

Dick has a wood shop with local craftsmen, or fundis as they are called, producing tables, chairs, and lounges from local wood and all by hand. They are very accommodating in showing you the local sites, hooking you up with a trip to the tanzanite mines, or arranging a photographic safari. The Serengeti, Ngorongoro crater, Lake Manyara and Tangarie National parks are all within easy driving distance. The Arusha National Park is less than a mile away