NOTE: if you received my emails then you've already heard this story. It was a hot February evening in Diani beach, Kenya, when we decided to take a boat trip down the Kongo river (Kongo with a K). We were staying at the incredible Water Lovers Hotel when the hotel manager, Veronica, casually wondered if we might like to do some more activities, like a boat trip. We would float down the Kongo river before stopping off at a beauty spot to watch the sunset. We weren't very enthusiastic at first but Veronica assured us that it was beautiful and not too strenuous, and M suggested that we take a bottle of prosecco for the ride, so we cautiously agreed. We set off from the hotel for a short taxi ride to the river mouth and boarded our boat at around ///teamwork.dynastic.underhand. Our gondolier, for it was a non powered, stick driven boat made from a single Mango tree, was called Abdul and he was extremely knowledgeable about the river and the area around it. We were surrounded by mangroves on all sides and coconut trees beyond them. The river was brown and a bit sludgy, but contained no crocodiles, hippos, nor pirranhias (sic), Abdul was proud to say. We meandered downstream for about a kilometer before the boat driver pulled over for our scheduled stop, at around ///airlifted.shortlived.pollution. As we stepped out of the boat at the "beauty spot", we immediately sank into about a foot of deep mud on the river bank. It turned out the whole area was basically a big mud patch covered with spiky roots and crab holes, although Abdul assured us that the crabs were very scared and so they wouldn't come up and bite our bottoms even if we sat on it. So sit we did, and popped open the prosecco. At first, Abdul sat down right next to us to enjoy this pretty patch of paradise, but after an acceptably long period of politeness I asked if he could "give us a few minutes". "Oh yes, no problem, take your time", he said as he continued to sit there on the mud next to us. "Sorry, I meant, uh, could you please go and wait by the boat for five minutes?" Oh right, sure. He finally got it. Despite the mud, it was a very romantic location and M began telling me how much she loved me and that we should stay together forever. "That's lucky", I said "because I feel the same way too. In fact..." The hotel had provided a tray of snacks, as I mentioned earlier, which was decorated with shells, one of which contained a special surprise. There was a moment of worry as the designated shell didn't have the expected inside, but eventually I found it, beautifully wrapping a flower (see pic) and I managed to pop it back in the shell before M could work out what was going on. I leant forward, uttered a few sweet nothings, which I will spare you, and asked her if she would like to be my wife 🙂 And so it was, there in the mud, with the sunset barely visible due to the cloud cover, that we got engaged, at around ///flora.overstayed.nonsense. After a resounding yes, I popped the ring on her finger and we called Abdul over to take some pics 🙂 The sun was setting, although we couldn't see it, so we left quickly and drifted back along the river to the coast, smiles a plenty. After a short taxi ride back to the hotel for dinner, we found that the staff had decorated our room and our table with heart shaped flowers. The hotel staff had done a wonderful job of making it all seem like a mundane trip (and that the prosecco was M’s idea) all the while helping me with the preparations to make it actually very special.