In February 6, 2006, more than a century after Henry Morton Stanley became the first European explorer to see the Rwenzori Mountains, William Stanley, his great grandson, made a pilgrimage to Mount Stanley, the snow-capped Rwenzori range named after him, writes Raphael Okello.

Using ropes, a guide helped William Stanley and Becky Unwin, Stanley’s girlfriend, to the top of Margherita (16,763ft) the highest peak on Mount Stanley, the largest and highest range in the Rwenzoris. The panorama was as he had envisioned. Snow shrouded Mount Stanley’s subsidiary peaks, Margherita, Alexandra and Albert peaks.

“The sky was clear blue and the weather was clear. We had a clear view of the Democratic Republic of Congo. But just as we were putting on our crampons (special shoes to walk on glaciers/snow), we heard a thunderous sound. A huge rock boulder came bouncing towards us from the top,” Becky narrates the brief horrific moment that almost sucked the daylights out of them.

“It was very scary. I thought it was an avalanche,” confesses Stanley. None of them, not even their guide, knew what had triggered off the rock. Was it Kitasamba, the Bakonjo god believed to reside on Rwenzori’s highest peak, welcoming Stanley to the mountain?
he pandemonium quelled. Stanley took in the splendour around him. It was stunningly beautiful. He went on his knees and proposed to Becky in Swahili! Bowled over, Becky said “yes.” They popped a bottle of champaign in celebration of their exceptional engagement and in honour of Stanley’s eventual homage to a mountain range named after his great grandfather.

“Standing where I was, was a fulfilment of a life-long dream. I had discreetly intended to propose to her from the summit.”

His comments perplexed Becky. “What!” exclaimed Becky. “Supposing I hadn’t made it to the top?” She asked cheekily. For someone who was climbing a mountain for the first time, Becky had every reason to feel jittery about the possibility of not getting to the peak.

“I would have found somewhere special to propose. But I was relieved when you managed to get to the top,” he replied in a good-natured romantic aura that they seem to have carried from the mountain.
Becky cannot conceal her joy. She says she is “happy to join a family with an exploratory legacy.”

Her future husband, the first of the Stanley descendants to visit the Rwenzoris, is the most passionate to continue with the Stanley legacy.
“It has always been my vision to follow in his (Henry Morton Stanley) footsteps,” Stanley, the youngest of three children, says.

Knowing that a mountain in Africa was named after his grandfather was inspirational. And having spent most of his childhood in Furze Hill, Henry Stanley’s ancestral home in Pirbright, Stanley was destined to yield to his great grandfather’s exploratory disposition.

“The house was filled with a lot of African memorabilia like spears and shields taken from Stanley’s exploration in Africa. Being brought up in such an environment, you cannot miss the fact that they became part of who I am,” he says.

As early as 18 years, Stanley dreamt. In his dream, he had climbed the Rwenzori and was standing on Mount Stanley. Seven years ago, on his circuit tour of east, central and southern African countries, William came to Uganda, but went tracking the gorillas and surprisingly did not go to the Rwenzoris. He returned to England with his dream. But on the morning of February 6, William, accompanied by his girlfriend, packed all the mountaineering gear and food supplies, ready to climb the Rwenzoris.

From the Rwenzori Mountaineering Service offices, where they stood, the distant mist-covered Portal peaks beckoned. Like a delusive mirage, the stunning dark hue seemed to draw the peaks closer than they appeared. But the sheer sighting of the portal peaks was a compelling glimpse of mountain grandeur beyond which William was to live his dream.

It took the couple, together with 10 potters, a cook and a guide, a strenuous journey through forested valleys and escarpments, negotiating lakes, streams and gashing rivers to set sight on their dream destination. On the second day while at John Matte hut, they had their first sighting of Mount Stanley. It was magical!

“From the hut, Mount Stanley looked far away. It was pretty amazing. Knowing that it is named after my great grandfather was hugely emotional,” says Stanley.

In 1900, Sir Harry Johnston, the British Governor to Uganda, suggested to the Royal Geographic Society that they christen the different Rwenzori ranges using names of explorers who had contributed to the discovery of Africa’s secrets.

The highest and largest of the Rwenzori ranges was named after Sir Henry Morton Stanley, an avid British explorer and journalist.
Stanley was the first European explorer to see Mt Rwenzori. He saw it on May 24, 1888. Johnson’s suggestion was to see William Stanley, many years after, labouring to get to mount Stanley.

The third and forth day of travelling to mount Stanley were not any less challenging or exciting. Traversing the Bigo bogs on the fourth day was particularly tricky. Some areas without designated boardwalks required them to gingerly lumber through extremely soggy surfaces.

William’s ascent was not as horrifying as his great grandfather’s exploratory journeys into Africa’s impenetrable interior where he had to cut through jungles to create paths and engaged into battles with natives. But it was not any less memorable.

Before the ascent, he had hoped that they would make it to the top and take many more memories back to England.
They got to the top and he will take memories and a future wife back to England. So, will he encourage his sister and brother to come and experience the same exhilaration?

“I do not know if they will come to Uganda,” he says “They are married with children and that takes time but hopefully they will come. They have visited African countries but only countries where they have friends.”