THE PROPOSAL
"NOTHING
CAN EVER PREPARE
YOU FOR THE
MOMENT"
It was Easter Weekend 2014 and Ron had planned a 4 day trip for us to Uganda. I didn’t think much of it as we had been on many trips during our four and a half year relationship and usually took advantage of long weekends to get away. Over the years we had been to his hometown San Diego several times. We had also been to many other fabulous places including London, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Cabo San Lucas Mexico, Mozambique, Cape Town (a usual in December) and various other beautiful holiday destinations in South Africa. However, this was a trip to his birthplace, a place I had heard so much about from him and his family but had never been to. Ron kept all aspects of the trip from me so all I did was pack my bags and follow his lead. We landed at Entebbe Airport on a beautiful Thursday evening with the sun setting over Lake Victoria. After clearing customs and fetching our bags, we met up with Dennis, our driver for the weekend, and made our way down the bustling Entebbe Road into Kampala for an evening at the Kampala Serena. The amount of commercial activity as we were driving into town was fascinating. All shops were open and the place was abuzz with people. Now I understood the comment from one of the young ladies on our flight as we were leaving OR Tambo International when she said, “Uganda keeps me young darling.” That evening we had dinner at Meditreano, a popular restaurant in Kampala’s high end Kololo neighbourhood, with two of Ron’s friends from Stanford Business School who relocated to Kampala 7 years ago after falling in love with the place during holiday. They are now raising a family there. Friday morning was breakfast at the Serena and we were joined by Ron’s uncle Nsubuga, his mom’s younger brother. We had a great morning filled with laughter and I was even introduced to the very tasty jack fruit, something we don’t have in South Africa. After breakfast it was off to pack our bags and reunite with Dennis for the trip back to Entebbe Airport. At Entebbe, we boarded a small charter plane with the EU Ambassador to Uganda and his family for a two hour flight to Western Uganda. The views from the small plane were breathtaking as we flew over the massive Lake Victoria and its fishing villages, over the lush Queen Elizabeth National Park and along the mountain range that leads to the Rwenzori Mountains with its crater lakes. Upon landing, it was off to a jeep and a two hour driver through various small lovely villages and towns en route to our final destination. I felt like I was in an African version of The Thomas Crown Affair, one of Ron’s favourite movies.
We drove through some very beautiful villages with lots of activity ahead of the Easter weekend. The place is incredibly green and fertile and we passed lots of people on bicycles strewn with heaps of green banana plants which produce Uganda’s staple food, matoke. How do they keep their balance with so much on one bicycle? We saw processions of people re-enacting Jesus’ walk with the cross. Finally we reached the town of Fort Portal, a neat, clean and pleasant town with wide streets, manicured hedges, roundabouts and the Rwenzori Mountains as its backdrop. We passed the King’s Palace (king of the kingdom of Tororo). We then branched off onto a dirt road and towards our final destination, Kyaninga Lodge (pronounced “Chaninga”). The astonishing lodge kind of comes out of nowhere as you make your way up the road. It consists of 8 wooden chalets strung out along a knife-edge ridge interconnected with wooden walkways and steps. Once you make it up the steep stairs to the reception chalet, you understand the main point of the journey – the view across a forest fringed turquoise crater lake is arresting. In the distance, the legendary “Mountains of the Moon” referred to in 150 AD by Ptolemy as “Lunae Montes”, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site boasting Africa’s 3rd highest peak. Throughout the weekend we were amazed by the engineering marvel that the lodge is. It was built by hand by 130 people using local materials (enormous eucalyptus poles, grass thatch and handmade furniture out of Elgon Olive) and it took 6 years to finish, including building a road from scratch. Our chalet offered panaromic views and you could absorb the sunrise, sunset and look down on the monkeys and birds in the trees. After settling in, we were off to lunch at the main chalet with its beautiful fireplace. The Kyaninga chef is exceptional and uses fruits, vegetables and herbs from the garden at the lodge to make his amazing and delicious creations. After lunch, Ron went to speak with Steve Williams, the hands-on owner and brainchild behind Kyaninga. Little did I know that he was hatching his plan for that evening. After the late lunch we lounged around the fireplace enjoying a bottle of wine and a few games of Scrabble, one of our favourite pastimes. It was then off to shower, change and prepare for dinner. At dinner, we met the other guests and we were given a very romantic and private setting at the top of the dining area with a lovely view of the night sky, full moon and bright stars. As our starters came out, the waitress brought out a bottle of champagne. The conversation between Ron and I took a strange shift as he started asking me about my goals and dreams. I thought to myself, “four and a half years and you are asking me about my goals and dreams?”, as I awkwardly answered his questions. He then said that he was going downstairs to wash his hands and next thing I knew he was on one knee with an engagement ring asking me to marry him. I was completely surprised and overtook by emotions. I started crying tears of joy and then yelled out to the other guests who were having dinner in the room below us, “I just got engaged!” Then everyone came by to congratulate us. It was an absolutely amazing moment and I was completely caught off guard. The next morning we woke up and took a lovely one and a half hour walk around the perimeter of the crater ridge. Just the two of us taking in the beauty of this amazing creation of nature and thinking about the years ahead for us.
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