In the first of her despatches from across the world, Nicky Holden explains how missing baboons almost blighted a birthday.

SOUTH Africans are a bossy lot, with an unusually assertive approach to tourism. On Monday morning fresh (ha!) from our 11-hour flight, we staggered woozily up the steps of Acorn House B&B as our host, Stuart, bustled towards us waving a map. Apparently this was the perfect day to go up Table Mountain. If we didn't go today he said, high winds might shut the cable car, or the notorious "cloth" of low cloud might descend, blocking out the views of Table Bay. We should go RIGHT NOW.

Too stunned to argue, off we went. A rotating cable car whisks you to the summit in two minutes, and from there a network of paths skirts around the famous flat top, with its fabulous views of Cape Town and the crags of the Twelve Apostles dropping steeply down towards the sea.

It was the perfect, dream-like opener to our trip, and the anxiety and fatigue of a week of protracted farewells and house moving started to melt away.

Gus and Charlotte are settling into the idea of leaving home behind, helped by the comfortable and easy-going atmosphere of Acorn House, and the fantastic hospitality of the Capetonians. A few homesick tears on Gus's eighth birthday were soon dried by the hotel maids serving his birthday breakfast of sparkling grape juice, chocolate cake and "Happy Birthday" sung in Xhosa.

Later, the children splashed around in the Indian Ocean among the little jackass penguins on Boulders Beach, and were reduced to silence by the truly majestic vistas from Cape Point (although there was some disappointment at the lack of baboons, who, we had been warned, might variously steal our cameras or get into the car and rip up the seats; a prospect the children had found deliciously scary).

We had a candlelit birthday supper by the Acorn House pool, with goodies from the deli takeaway opposite (a feast of pasta, salads and wine for around £12). Gus looked up solemnly from his spaghetti bolognaise, "You know," he said, "it doesn't really matter about no baboons. I've had a really nice birthday..."

FACTFILE

Acorn House: (www.acornhouse.co.za) costs around £90 a night for the four of us including a fantastic breakfast. It is in a pleasant suburb of Cape Town, near trendy Kloof Street, which is packed with great restaurants and shops. Highly recommended for families with older children.

Cape Town is a direct 11-hour flight from Heathrow. The time difference is two hours.