Having arrived at Heathrow four hours early for my flight to Cape Town, I managed to secure a window seat for the twelve-hour trip so was very pleased. However, when I boarded, I was asked to switch so that another group could sit together and I ended up with a seat in the middle of the middle block with no TV, surrounded by screaming babies - I was not happy. The air stewards were uncharacteristically helpful and friendly which brightened up the journey.

On the drive into Cape Town from the airport I passed the townships - huge areas of poor housing to many which black people were moved when parts of inner-city Cape Town were designated 'white only'. Even though the segregation doesn't exist today in law, many of the people that were displaced chose not to - or, more likely, can't afford to - move back into town. From the outside they look pretty dishevelled and are a stark contrast to the fancy new buildings in town.

There's a lot to do in and around Cape Town, far more than I could possibly cover in the short time that I had there. I spent my first afternoon at the V&A Waterfront where there are many shops and restaurants so I managed to buy the last few bits and pieces that I needed for the trip before relaxing at the Belthazar restaurant which boasts the largest selection of wines by the glass of anywhere in the world (I still managed to pick a bad one!). I had 'giant kebabs' which more than lived up to their name - it turned out to be four different steaks on a skewer! - it was great but I was actually in pain afterwards from eating so much!

I was staying at a great hostel that also arranged day trip bookings for me. I spent the next morning on a winery tour around the nearby town of Stellenbosch - we had a couple of wine tastings (and some cheese ) and an explanation of the wine-making process during a tour of one of the vineyards. As we were travelling around our driver explained a lot about South Africa and Stellenbosch in particular - it's a very pretty town, dominated by students at the university there.

When I returned to Cape Town in the afternoon Ruth had arrived so we went for lunch on Long Street (where the restaurants, bars and clubs are concentrated) and then took the cable-car up to the top of Table Mountain. The cable car had a revolving floor so we could see out from all angles! From the mountain-top we had a fantastic view over all of Cape Town. We also saw some funny little furry creatures sunning themselves on the rocks. Even though it was a sunny day it was very cold and windy up there so we didn't hang around too long.

The following day we took a day trip along the coast to Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. Along the way we took a ferry out to Duiker's Island to see the seals that live there and watch them jumping and playing in the water. We also stopped at Boulders Beach to see lots of penguins, which I particularly enjoyed, they're such cute creatures. Further along the way we got off the bus and cycled through the mountains, mostly downhill thankfully - it's so long since I've been on a proper bike, I didn't even know how to change the gears! We stopped for lunch and then cycled some more until we reached Cape of Good Hope - the scenery along the way was great and we saw some eland (very big antelope).

From Cape of Good Hope we walked up and along the cliffs to Cape Point and saw a couple of lighthouses there. In the sea we could just about make out whales swimming - when I found a quiet spot away from most of the other tourists I could even hear them, very cool. On the road on the way back we passed a male and female ostrich with lots of baby ostriches and later we stopped at an ostrich farm for a quick look at some more.

Back in town we appreciated a different aspect of the ostriches as Ruth had an ostrich burger for dinner and I had warthog ribs - very tasty, similar to ham. We also had the local favourite drinks - Carling Black Label lager (thumbs up) and Savannah Dry cider (thumbs down) and enjoyed the Hallowe'en celebrations back at our hostel.

The next morning we joined the group of people with which we would travel to Livingstone in Zambia. The tour started almost two hours later than scheduled with no introductions or explanations - after a painfully early start we weren't best pleased at being left standing around waiting and wondering what was going on…

First off, we visited the District Six Museum that catalogues the developments over the 20th century for many black people living in Cape Town - it was sad and shocking to hear how people were displaced from their homes. Then we were given a tour of some of the townships by people that live there. Their homes ranged from wooden shacks cobbled together with tin roofs, to rooms in old run down apartment blocks, to the much better recently-renovated apartment blocks. We visited a nursery run by a local lady in her home, catering for 70 children; as it was a Saturday the children weren't in the nursery but there were lots of them running around and they were extremely excited by us and by our cameras - they clambered for the chance to get in photos with us and to take photos of us and each other. Our driver was explaining to us the circumcision ritual that young men go through in their late teens/early twenties - after the circumcision ceremony they spend a month in the desert alone, only after that are they considered to be a man!

After that we boarded the truck that would take the group of 21 of us all the way to Livingstone with Linda, the trip leader, and Sammy, the cook in the front. Linda had named the truck 'Betty' after the Betty Ford Centre because people are not allowed to drink on board. We headed north through South Africa, stopping en route for first of many roadside lunches.