We are hosted by the effervescent Bianca Mpahlaza, of the Cape Film Commission who picks us up in the standard white production van (which makes me feel like I ought to be shooting) for a 9-hour tour of towns and townships. beaches, historic sites and a startling variety of flora and fauna. I learn that fynbos, includes all the low-growing shrubs that hold the sandy soil on the cliffs together, and that the national flower of S. Africa is called Proteus, after the Greek sea god who could change his shape at will, aptly named for a country surrounded by ocean and featured such rich geographic, cultural and biological diversity.

In one afternoon, we stood steps away from an extended family of South African penguins, who mate for life unlike those current cinematic stars; we slowed whilst down driving by a family of baboons but kept the windows up as Bianca pointed out they can be quite naughty; at lunch we rushed to the overlook to see a killer whale dining close to shore; mid-day we saw a paid of ostrich, and finally a herd of gazelle.

I confess we use the funicular rather than hike to the lighthouse atop the Cape of Good Hope, where the Atlantic meets the Indian Ocean and Antarctica is the closest continent.
Funicular is a wonderful word meaning tiny train at tourist attraction.

The day unrolled like a perfect film reel, until the piece de resistance: a trip to Table Mountain, a visual feast where the flat top allows one to view the entire Cape peninsula just stepping a few yards from one view to the next.

I put my fear of heights aside as we ascended hundreds of feet in a new state-of-the-art gondola, which spins as it climbs affording truly panoramic (although for me, nauseating) views of mountain, ocean, city and sky. After the requisite photos and a drink, we boarded the last gondola of the day as the sun dipped below the horizon of a cloudless sky. Squeezed in with a group of 60 or so tourists speaking almost as many languages, I imagined what it would be like getting stuck on this crowded glass-enclosed box hanging from a cable in the sky.
Just minutes in to our descent, we stopped. Technical difficulties. We lurched a bit and swayed in the wind. The operator turned on some music and the Dutch contingent began singing loudly. The Japanese tourists continued shooting pictures. The S. African woman next to me looked a bit panicked. I fiddled with my camera and thought about tapping in a last message on my blackberry in case we didn’t make it. After what seemed like an hour, but was probably a quarter of that, we ever so slowly continued our descent.

I am rather looking forward to a day of meetings and presentations on terra firma tomorrow.
- Patricia Finneran