February 12th – Dodging Cyclone Giovanna

Today we got the worrying news that a 500 mile-wide cyclone called Giovanna is barrelling towards our next stop Madagascar. Apparently there's 100 mph winds and 50 feet high waves in the eye of the hurricane – the captain tells us he's keeping an eye on it, but it may affect our trip there. We're going to Fort Dauphin in the South West corner of the island, and the cyclone is currently heading towards the North West side of Madagascar. Fingers crossed it doesn't get too close.....

February 10th – Driving Miss Tracy on Safari

Having done a few game drives in the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve before, today we decided to get a different perspective on things, by hiring a car and doing it ourselves. After many tortuous email conversations with the car hire company, we were relatively confident of there actually being a car waiting for us at the port.

Unfortunately, the man delivering it, a nice but nervous chap delightfully named "Attention", was operating on African time, so we had to wait around at the port till we were just about to give up, when he finally screeched up to the gates. Having also been assured that we'd be supplied with a map to enable us to find the way there (it's about an hour and a half's drive from the ship), he informed us that he'd forgotten it – he was soon Christened "Attention Deficit" or "Attention to Detail" by us.

So, we finally got going with the vaguest of vague set of directions, but somehow we managed to find it, avoiding lots of cattle on the road as we got close. Driving around in a country with such a crime rate and with such a high accident rate had already sent Tracy's adrenaline levels into overdrive, but once she arrived at the game park she was now beside herself with concern about possible animal attacks. She read the park's safety briefing in minute detail, and interpreted a clause that said that we should shut our windows when 50 metres from any monkeys, as meaning the windows must be shut at all times – like a shut window would deter a charging rhino?

She then frantically quizzed the ranger about whether we were going to get mauled by a lion – he didn't really understand her question, and told her that there were lions on the road yesterday, so yes we should see some. This didn't help.

So, we set off nervously and began our adventure. Fairly quickly we saw some impala and a wild dog (we think called an Erewolf); and then we got to her first sphincter-troubling sighting, of a couple of armour-plated rhinos by the side of the road. The mixed instructions of don't get too close, and drive away asap were happily ignored by me, and we turned off the engine (keeping the safety windows up obviously), and watched these magnificent creatures happily munching away on the grass and totally ignoring us.

The fact that we weren't charged by the rhinos calmed the passenger down a little, so we carried on our voyage of discovery – only stopping briefly, when we saw some workers at one of the lodges sitting in the open by the side of the road. Tracy bravely wound her window down an inch and repeatedly shouted at them, "Aren't you worried you're going to be eaten by lions?". Fortunately they ignored her alarmist warnings with a bemused look that said, just go away.

It's definitely a different experience driving yourself on safari – it's you who has to worry about avoiding ruts and potholes in the track, and it's down to you to spot the animals – but in many ways, it's more fun, because it feels like a real adventure. You don't have the security of a guide with a gun to protect you, and you feel just that bit more vulnerable – it gives a real added edge of excitement.

So, we slowly relaxed into the adventure and got pretty good at animal spotting – we ticked off zebras, wildebeest, water buffalo, gibbons, lots more rhinos, and at the end, we were really pleased to get an upclose viewing of an elephant.

What an excellent day! All we had to do was find our way back to the ship........

February 9th – Valley of 1,000 Hills (Durban)

Today I went on a tour that took us out of the Durban urban jungle to the pretty Valley of 1,000 Hills. On a steamily hot day, it was slightly misty so I wasn't able to confirm whether there really were 1,000 hills, but it was a beautiful landscape of undulating hills and valleys stretching way off into the distance.

On the top of one of the hills, we visited a "Zulu cultural village" – although it wasn't exactly a genuine cultural experience, (a real zulu village would see people in western clothes watching TV and talking away on their mobile phones), the energetic dancing and pulsating drum beats were excellent to watch.

After the show, we went around their collection of grumpy looking crocodiles who could only be coaxed into moving when they were ungraciously poked with a long stick by the attendant, who they would then snap at angrily before resuming their role as crocodile statues.

For me, the highlight of the trip, was the chance to hold an enormously heavy python. Whenever presented with an opportunity like this in the past, as a bit of a snake-o-phobe, I've always been too chicken, so I did my best to pretend to look brave as the 50 pound python was put around my neck and slithered heavily over my shoulders. Every now and then, his head would rear up and look me straight in the eye – fortunately he decided not to strangle me or bite me, so I have lived to tell/blog the tale.

February 8th – Frantic Trip to East London

After two exhausting days, the early morning call for 5am for our final morning's game drive was not something I was looking forward to. The rutted tracks through the jungle were as incredibly bumpy as ever, but somehow I managed to keep dozing off as we bounced around the reserve on our final mission to catch those leopards. We never did see the leopards, but the whole experience was fantastic.

But, by 10am, it was all over, and we were on the bus heading back to East London to join up with the ship which was leaving at 2pm. Everything was going fine until about halfway through our journey, when the bus driver pulled off the road and said he needed to make a phone call. On further investigation, it appeared he was phoning his depot, because the fan belt had snapped and we were overheating. Rural South Africa isn't normally a place that you want to be stuck, but it just so happened that we had stopped next to South Africa's oldest pub, and so the passengers went off in search of a couple of bottles of champagne (they had to settle for beer instead).

As they got stuck into the beer, I was acutely aware that I (as the ship's escort) was responsible for getting them back to the ship before the ship set sail. I was informed that we had about an hour and a half left of the journey, by now it was 12pm. With the driver saying the bus was a gonner, we got the bar owner to call us some taxis to get us back asap.

The taxis weren't exactly quick in coming, but once we were in them they drove like the absolute wind, overtaking furiously and even braking a couple of red lights on the final frantic minutes as we approached East London (by now it was 2.45). As we crossed the bridge and saw the Silver Whisper still docked on the river, there was a relieved cheer from us all.

I don't think the captain was very pleased about the delay, but thank god he waited. However, my relief of finally getting there was short-lived when I was told that I had 15 minutes to prepare for my next lecture – I think my heart only started beating normally by about 5pm. What a frantic afternoon.

February 6th & 7th – Shamwari Safari

Very excited this morning to be going on a three day safari at the amazing lodge of Shamwari on the Eastern Cape. From Cape Town, we flew to Port Elizabeth, and then took the coach to Shamwari.

We were staying in the luxurious "Shamwari Eagle's Crag", where Silversea had booked all 9 palatial lodges, so we had the run of the place. This was some of the most luxurious lodgings that I've ever stayed in – the room was simply enormous, with its own secluded deck complete private infinity pool and outside shower. As it was, we didn't have a great amount of time to enjoy these amazing surroundings, because our time was packed with exhilarating game drives.

Over the course of the next three days, we were to see an amazing array of wildlife – we saw four of the "Big Five" (the leopards were hiding), plus sleek cheetahs, skittish zebras, looming giraffes, grumpy warthogs, leaping impalas, head-butting springboks and an enormous variety of exotic-coloured birds.

The open landscapes were magnificent, and as we bounced around them in our 4x4 jeep, it felt like we had them to ourselves. To avoid the heat of the day and to see the animals at their most active, morning drives left at a bleary-eyed 5.45am, while the afternoon drives left at a more sociable 4pm, and included the essential part of any game drive – the sundowner – as an open, (and hopefully lion-free), section of land is chosen for a few alfresco drinks as the sun sets over the African hills.

On a trip of so many highlights, it's difficult to single out any one of the other – but, on our first game drive, we had an unforgettable encounter with a herd of about 10 elephants. To be so close to these huge creatures, knowing that they're powerful enough to tip your jeep over if they really wanted to, is a thrilling experience. We were close enough to touch them, as they ripped apart the trees they were eating with ease, a mother shielding her tiny calf between her legs. The romance of it all was only broken by the frequent loud and stinky wind-breaking of the elephants. I've never been close enough to smell an elephant's fart, but this was an upclose safari.

Possibly even more thrilling than the elephant experience, was on the second day, when we came across a couple of lions striding along, looking really focused on something. We briefly lost them, and then came across them again in a small clearing in the bushes. There were 5 of them, and the male lion was feasting on a freshly killed warthog. I couldn't believe how close we were to a pride of lions – literally no more than 10 metres away. We were close enough to see the lion pulling the legs off the warthog with his teeth, and then noisily crunching on its bones. You could hear the noise as his rough tongue pulled the skin off the dead beast – amazing to see.

Unfortunately, the kill coincided with Tracy's camera (which I had been given careful instructions not to break) malfunctioning – all I was doing was taking pictures. It appears that I have killed her beloved camera, so not only do I not have any photos of the lions, but I could also be in as much trouble as that warthog.

February 5th – Cape Town’s Wines and Winos

Today we caught the remarkably reasonable Cape Town open top bus. We took blue route, which took us to the Kirstenbosch Gardens, and then to the winelands of Constantia, before following the coast round Camps Bay and back to the waterfront.

On an unbelievably hot day (apparently it was well over 40C/100F), the city, its gardens and its beaches all looked fabulous, although it quickly got too hot to view them from the top deck of the bus.

We did a bit of exploring around the colonial centre of town – lots of security people on the streets made it seem pretty safe; and then we got the bus to the beautiful Kirstenbosch Gardens, a large botanical reserve full of exotic indigenous flora, all in the shadow of Table Mountain. By now, the heat was getting to us, so how better to cool down and rehydrate than going wine tasting?

We took the bus to the beautiful winery at Groot Constantia, South Africa's oldest wine estate, where we did a quick tour of the cellars and vats (harvesting was due to start the next day); and then it all ended with the best bit – a tasting of 5 different wines, all of which were pretty good. Unfortunately, as we (and another passenger we'd met) made our way up to the bus stop, we saw a bus pulling away, which meant a 25 minute wait. However, rather than waste our time sitting at the bus stop, an executive decision was made to use the time profitably by ordering and consuming a bottle of reserve before the next bus arrived. In a bout of speed drinking that would have made Oliver Reed struggle, we polished off the plonk with enough time to comfortably stagger to the bus that was duly waiting for us.

So, it was 3 o'clock and we'd had a bottle of wine and no food, so the new priority was to get to Camps Bay to get some stomach lining. The beach was full of the beautiful people roasting themselves, but we headed straight to a chilled out restaurant for some shade and some good food.

All too quickly, it was time for the last bus, so we hopped on that and took it back to the port. A great day in a great city that was really looking at its best.

February 4th – Sailing into Cape Town

Our arrival into Cape Town on a beautifully clear afternoon was as spectacular as ever – the flat topped Table Mountain looming over the city bowl, with the peaks of Lion's Head and the 12 Apostles for company – there can't be many better places to sail into than Cape Town.

With the cool wind blowing up from Antarctica it was a little chilly on deck, but once we'd docked and got out of the wind, the hot African sun really got to work – it was boiling.

We had lots of internet chores to do today, so we just went to the air-conditioned comfort of the malls at the sparkling V&A Waterfront, where we settled in for an afternoon of wifi in a bar/restaurant. As an added bonus, they also had the rugby on, so we got to watch England's brave new dawn start off with a bit of a whimper.