A tale of two cities. - Mr Booth

Living in Edinburgh, I've always loved the fact that at the heart of the city there's an extinct volcano, but Arthur's Seat may have to admit a rival in Table Mountain. While arguably less geologically interesting, Cape Town's star attraction really delivers in the drama stakes. Sheer, sudden cliffs of mottled grey sandstone dwarf even the tallest buildings of the city that tightly huddles around its base. The famously flat top delivers stunning views, north across the gleaming heart of the city and the bay that the Dutch made their home nearly 400 years ago and south along rugged ridges to the Cape of Good Hope. This morning we visited this landmark, walking across its broad summit under blue skies and a strong sun. Lizards basked on rocks, tiny frogs called to us from the scrub and we even clocked a pair of dassies (as one does), large hamster-like things that are apparently distantly related to elephants!

This afternoon we saw another side of Cape Town with a tour of Langa, the oldest of city's planned townships where we received the warmest of welcomes. The poverty is hard-hitting as you are taken into people's homes, whether that means an old shipping container or the single room they share with two other families. The township is not uniform and has its own spectrum of wealth running from the most fragile of shacks to pleasant brick bungalows, but the contrast to the rest of the city is jarring. We are aware of the enormous disparity of wealth in the world, but seeing the extremes cheek by jowl is powerful and sobering.

Annoyingly, today some sort of bug dotted through a few members of our group (to be henceforth known as Team Capetoniants - it's a long story involving terrible puns), meaning that our fascinating visits were punctuated by the odd team member (me included) nipping off to a nearby corner to be sick. To their credit, the pupils affected soldiered on without complaint, determined not to miss out on such a revealing introduction to Cape Town, and now seem recovered. Fingers crossed that's it.

Tomorrow we visit Welcome Primary School and hope to build on the great links established by the first group, Team Burgundy. Can't wait.