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An African Engagement

Emmers
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Emmers

Emmers

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After two full days of travelling to Africa, DH & I had finally arrived in Tanzania, ready to embark on a weeklong safari followed by a week in Zanzibar. We could barely sleep the first night due to our excitement and extreme jetlag, so just before sunrise, we got up out of bed, walked over to our balcony, and took in the majestic Serengeti before us. We saw herds of animals for miles and miles, ranging from wildebeest to gazelles to elephants and giraffes and cheetahs to the most amazing colors of birds. Eventually, the sun began to peak above the land, and we saw a pride of lions gathered around the base of a large rock as the leader of the pride stood upon the rock peering out to the assembly. At this moment, we strangely heard the first few bars of "Circle of Life." Then the most amazing thing happened, a monkey appeared and stepped onto the ledge of the rock and took the newborn baby lion in his hands, raising him to the sky as if inducting him into his new life. Elton John appeared below our balcony and continued singing, “Circle of Life.†A rhino parted from the crowd and came over to our balcony, and DH reached down and took something that was around his horn. Then, DH turned to me, revealed the "something" was a ring, went down on one knee, and asked me to marry him. Just as I said, "Yes," the elephants by the watering hole made horn noises with their trunks in celebration of the beginning of our new life together.

 

Okay, so maybe that’s not exactly how it happened, but it was every bit as beautiful and memorable as the story above. :) Here's how it happened...

 

The story above started out accurately -- After two full days of travelling to Africa, we had finally arrived in Tanzania, ready to embark on a weeklong safari followed by a week in Zanzibar. Our first stop was Arusha, where we would stay for one night at the Karama Lodge before flying to the Serengeti the next morning for the start of the safari. We arrived at the Karama Lodge, were greeted with fresh squeezed pineapple juice, and directed to our private banda hut to freshen up for dinner. Until then, we had endured more than enough airplane food and the only non-airplane food consisted of a Kenyan “breakfast sandwich to go†we mistakenly ordered that morning, so you could say we were excited for a real meal.

 

We set out down the path from our banda to the restaurant and DH abruptly stopped to turn around for his wallet back in the banda. He quickly retrieved it and we continued on down the path. Once in the restaurant, we were seated in front of the large, centrally-located window overlooking miles of small villages below with Mount Kilamanjaro looming behind it all. We finally felt like we were on vacation. And in the spirit of being on vacation, we ordered a bottle of wine. After our glasses were poured, DH raised his glass to make a toast. A toast to our trip. A toast to us. A toast to our lives. Together. We started talking about how perfect the night was and how happy we were. Then DH took over and started saying how happy he was…and how happy he always is…with me. He got up from his side of the table and approached me, presumably for a kiss. Instead, he went down on one knee, retrieved his “wallet,†er, ring from his pocket and asked me to marry him. I responded (or thought I responded) and we kissed.

 

DH eventually made his way back to his side of the table while I was left with my jaw down to the ground. He looked at me again and asked, “so, was that a yes?†“Of course it was a yes! Didn’t I say yes??†You see, DH had me completely convinced the engagement would occur during the summer. This was further confirmed during a conversation on the flight over to Tanzania, so please pardon my complete surprise and perhaps my inability to communicate when all of this took place.

 

Earlier that day, we met a father and daughter that were preparing to climb Mount Kilamanjaro the following morning. They sat at a nearby table during the proposal. When we had settled down and the daughter could no longer contain herself, she spoke up, “I’m really sorry to interrupt, but we couldn't help but overhear...Congratulations!†Her father immediately approached us and insisted they take our pictures. The father must have been reliving his proposal because he had us run through several different poses until his daughter’s embarrassment got the best of him and he returned our camera to us. The proposal was followed by two of the most memorable weeks of our lives. The Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara, Zanzibar -- everything was so beautiful and we got to experience it all together. Quite honestly, we have no idea how any honeymoon could top that trip!

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