[sitar & percussion play in bright rhythm] ♪ ♪ (Rudy Maxa) I'm on my way up the most iconic mountain in the world in a city unrivaled for its natural beauty.

I'm in South Africa, gazing down on Cape Town.

♪ ♪ [bird sings] ♪ ♪ (woman) Funding for "Rudy Maxa's World" is provided by the following... (woman) Orbitz salutes the neverending spirit of adventure and as a proud sponsor of "Rudy Maxa's World" Orbitz offers comprehensive information on the world's great destinations.

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Take vacation back!

[Korean janggu drums play in bright rhythm] (man) Korea, be one with earth and sky.

(woman) And by Delta, serving hundreds of destinations worldwide.

Information to plan your next trip available at delta.com.

[guitar & percussion play in bright rhythm] ♪ ♪ (Rudy) It's an outdoor lover's dream, with it's sweeping beaches, astounding displays of both wildlife and flora, and natural wonders.

Nowhere else in the world can you wake up in a cosmopolitan city, spend the afternoon with penguins, ride a funicular to the edge of a continent, and then watch the sunset from a beach back in town.

For sheer beauty, Cape Town stands alone.

Cape Town is a nexus of cultures from 3 continents set against a backdrop of so many natural wonders you'll think you're in paradise.

It began as a weigh station for ships sailing the long, arduous route around the tip of Africa.

In 1651, the board of directors of the Dutch East India Company voted to establish a settlement at the base of Table Mountain to grow vegetables to prevent scurvy.

Over the years, this scenic city on the bay witnessed diamond and gold rushes, slavery and discrimination, the birth of democracy and the influx of millions seeking a better life.

After 50 years of apartheid, Cape Town has thrown off the mantle of injustice to emerge as a vibrant city that's once again wowing visitors with its magnificent setting.

In recent years, especially since the 2010 World Cup, investors have been snatching up real estate here, production companies from all over the world are filming commercials, and tourism continues to grow at a rapid pace.

It's no wonder that with its superb climate and stunning beaches that Cape Town is being called the new California and Africa's Riviera.

Cape Town lies at the northern edge of the rugged Cape Peninsula that culminates 30 miles south in the Cape of Good Hope.

Table Mountain is more than just a pretty backdrop.

It's Cape Town's playground.

Year 'round, locals hike up it, cycle around it, and jump off it.

No one is crazy enough to be bungee jumping or paragliding today.

Locals call the fog that rolls in over their beloved Table Mountain, "the tablecloth."

As I wander the moonscape on the top of the mountain, the tablecloth comes whipping in, lifting here and there to reveal the city at its feet and glistening Table Bay.

Table Mountain is the north end of the ridge that dives into the ocean at the Cape of Good Hope.

Hikers can use a series of huts to walk from Table Mountain to the Cape in 2 or 3 days.

From below, the mountain is Cape Town's constant companion.

Whether it's shrouded in clouds or reflecting the afternoon sun, it looms over buildings and lurks down streets, it divides the city's wealthy and its poor, and long-signaled respite for weary mariners.

♪ ♪ Mariners still sail in and out under Table Mountain's shadow.

Yachts and sightseeing boats come and go out of Cape Town's newly-renovated waterfront, while seals spin in the harbor to the tune of street musicians.

♪ ♪ Many of the city's best hotels and restaurants cluster around the waterfront.

♪ ♪ African music is the inspiration for jazz, blues, and rock 'n' roll.

Echoes of familiar rhythms spring to life all over Cape Town.

♪ ♪ Come on!

[singing in an African language] Come on!

♪ ♪ Come on!

(Rudy) Cape Town attracts people from all over Africa.

Saleh, Nelson, Adeson, tell me where you're from.

I'm from Mozambique, Maputo.

I'm from Congo (Brazzaville).

I'm from Tanzania.

♪ ♪ (Rudy) The 3 of you from totally different countries in South Africa.

(Adeson) Yes, because we come from different countries and each one has different information, so we put all together and make this Kolelo.

Our culture is the same culture, it's not different things.

Now through music, we can talk about it, and through music, we can unite Africa.

♪ ♪ (Adeson) The music for me is the basic to throw away all the pains.

So we dance, we share the smiles-- it's all good.

That is the vision for the band, to show the people how people can come together.

♪ ♪ [acoustic guitar plays softly] One of Cape Town's most colorful neighborhoods is called Bo-Kaap.

The early European settlers brought slaves from other parts of Africa, from India, and from the area around Malaysia and Indonesia to work on their farms.

Bo-Kaap was established for freed slaves, and it was known as the Malay Quarter.

Many of the people were skilled artisans, silversmiths, masons, cobblers, and the color of their homes indicated which trade that family worked.

♪ ♪ Slavery in South Africa was officially abolished in 1834.

In 1948, the system of racial segregation known as apartheid began, and it lasted for 46 years.

The Group Areas Act was the name of legislation that led to the eviction of more than 3 million black and racially mixed people from their homes and forced them into townships and homelands.

In 1966, in perhaps the most egregious symbol of apartheid, 60,000 residents of District 6, a mixed race neighborhood, were ordered to move so that whites could settle there.

The entire area was bulldozed, leaving only a few churches and a mosque.

So they destroy this 4-story building, kick out 62 families, and then build garages for people's cars.

When I lived in Bloomer (ph) Flats, I knew virtually everybody, and everybody knew me.

If you walked through District 6, even the name wasn't there, the face was familiar.

There was a greeting, and there was a wave.

All this was destroyed.

You'll find a lot of the old folk, they died.

I suppose their death certificates would've said died of natural causes.

I say bull dust.

It should say died of depression and broken hearts because that's what they really died of.

Somebody, because they couldn't understand the reason why somebody because the color of their skin was wrong they were taken out the areas that had been home to them for so many, some of them maybe up to 100 years if not more.

But all those areas where people were taken out of were areas of prime property importance, and that was the underlying story behind trying to get people out.

(Rudy) Today District 6 remains an overgrown wasteland.

White building contractors refused to touch the site because of its legacy of terrible injustice.

Today the government is resettling some of those former residents, but that's raised the additional problem of what to do with squatters who have moved in during the intervening time.

♪ ♪ Beaches, bays, and dramatic headlands all demand an excursion south from the city.

♪ ♪ Little costal towns cling to bays, and everyone's out for adventure on bikes, in kayaks, on surf or kite boards.

♪ ♪ Cape Peninsula is Cape Town's astonishing backyard and home to a dazzling diversity of flora and fauna.

While the western side of Cape Peninsula is lashed by the Atlantic, the eastern side is lapped by the warm currents of the Indian Ocean.

Boulders Beach in Simons Town is home to a colony of 3000 African penguins; reportedly offspring from one couple that appeared here in 1983.

These penguins are also known as Jackass penguins, named for the braying noise they make.

[loud braying] ♪ ♪ Penguins are thought to have evolved some 60 million years ago, around the time that dinosaurs became extinct.

African penguins don't live in the colder areas like their cousin, so they have featherless legs and bare patches on their faces to keep them from getting too hot.

♪ ♪ From the penguins, it's not far to the crowning glory of the peninsula, Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope.

I'm on the very tip of Africa, and out there lie the roaring 40s, the gale force winds that strike fear in the hearts of even the most intrepid sailors.

The waters around the Cape are littered with shipwrecks.

The Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias first rounded it in 1488.

He called it the Cape of Storms.

After the Suez Canal was built, sea traffic around the Cape petered out.

The Cape of Good Hope is not the most southerly point in Africa; that's some 112 miles to the east.

While meandering in the flower-studded trails, keep an eye out for southern right whales; so named because people thought them the right whales to hunt, and indeed, nearly hunted them out of existence.

They can average 50 feet long and weigh more than 50 tons.

♪ ♪ Having safely rounded the Cape, I'm headed north again toward Cape Town.

Here on the cooler Atlantic side are beaches and bays and dramatic roads blasted out of the cliff.

Surfers and kiteboaders take advantage of the waves, and if the mood strikes you, you could even be sealed in a plastic bubble and rolled into thecean.

Camps Bay with its Twelve Apostle Mountain Range behind it is one of the world's best spots for sunset and a sundowner cocktail.

♪ ♪ [men sing in an African language] ♪ ♪ By nighttime, Anna and I are happily ensconced at lively Mama Africa, one of the many bars and restaurants in Cape Town with dynamite live music.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [applause & cheers] In 1990, Nelson Mandela was released from prison after 27 years.

Soon thereafter he shocked the world by calling for reconciliation instead of revolution.

♪ ♪ Apartheid may have ended and freedom come to all, but economic disparity continues, and many black and mixed race people still live in townships.

♪ ♪ Many reputable companies offer township tours with guides, who are themselves residents, and it's definitely the way to visit.

I joined a tour of Langa Township by Spirit of the Cape.

Langa is the oldest black township, and it's located on the back side of Table Mountain in the Cape Flats area.

What are they selling over here?

Fat cakes and fish cakes.

That's your high school back there, isn't it?

I hear Langa High school has produced some members of parliament as well... and you!

How do the residents of Langa feel about tourists from other places just coming through here, and walking through like, like tourists?

[laughs] (Rudy) Black Africans bore the brunt of apartheid.

Their access to Cape Town and its beaches was restricted, and they weren't taught math or science in school.

They were forced to live 15 miles away from Cape Town in Cape Town Flats.

Today, most of Cape Town's more than 3 million residents still live in townships, where unemployment is high.

(Rudy) Are you from Langa Township?

Yeah, I'm from Langa Township.

How has life here changed since apartheid was abolished in 1994?

(man) Well, there's a big change.

People are free now, people are free to move around.

A lot of people, they got houses like before.

We got more.

(Rudy) These are newer houses?

Yeah, these are new buildings, 2, 3 years ago.

(Rudy) And was this street paved 5 years ago?

One year ago.

Yeah, one year ago, yeah.

We also got more schools.

The government has built more schools for us.

For the first time, you see there's some neighborhood here, and you can see when you wake up in the morning, people's faces are bright, people are excited.

People have got energy like before.

They have seen changes come here, and they are looking forward for the future.

Thank you for talking with me.

Yes, thank you, sir.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you for visiting us.

(Rudy) Adjacent to the township, a shantytown known as the Joe Slovo Informal Settlement is evidence of the growing need for housing in Cape Town.

People from all over Africa descend on this city in search of jobs, and Cape Town can't keep up with the influx.

(Rudy) The poverty of the townships and the informal settlements is heartbreaking.

Opportunity and jobs are desperately needed.

At Langa, a cooking school called Eziko gives students the chance to learn new skills.

I told myself I should come.

I quit my job.

I told myself I should get skills, you see.

I should come and cook.

Yup.

(Rudy) Many of these students end up with jobs at Cape Town hotels.

(woman) Okay, I'm a student.

I'm here to learn how to cook, okay, and I want to see myself one day having my own business.

(Rudy) What kind of business?

Opening my B&B.

Hi, I'm Rudy Maxa.

Hi, I'm Lindy.

And this is your B&B?

Yes.

Will you show it to me?

With pleasure.

In many of Cape Town's townships, entrepreneurs are opening bed & breakfasts for tourists and visiting relatives.

In Langa, Lindy showed me her establishment.

Well, this is very nice.

How many rooms do you have here?

>>I have 4 bedrooms.

>>For guests?

>>For the guests.

This is my first room.

Very nice.

Nice double bed.

This is the main, the larger guest room?

(Lindy) Yes.

Had you ever done a B&B before?

No, the only thing that I've been doing is to host the students.

I have 5 years experience.

Of hosting students?

>>Yes.

>>So you're ready.

After you've had students, you can do anything!

You can do grown-ups easily.

(Lindy) Exactly.

♪ ♪ (Rudy) The beauty and diversity of Cape Town also exists on a smaller scale.

Ecobotanists divide the world into 6 plant kingdoms.

The smallest, yet the one with the greatest diversity of species is here at Western Cape Province.

♪ ♪ Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens displays this incredible diversity of plant life, much of it reminiscent of the Mediterranean and California coasts.

Sugar birds delight in the protea flowers.

The King protea, a huge artichokelike plant, is South Africa's national flower.

King protea and the related Pincushion protea are accustomed to tough winters and long, dry summers.

They thrive on the rsh conditions with roots twice as efficient at picking up nutrients than normal plants.

They're also known for their ability to regrow quickly after a fire.

The diversy of South African plants is extremely high with more than 8500 species, 2/3rds of which don't grow anywhere else in the world.

More plant species can be found on Table Mountain than in the entire British Isles.

♪ ♪ When you've grown tired of your yacht, pull it up to the front of Cape Town's elegant Cape Grace Hotel.

Then if you choose, you can head straight to Bascule, the whiskey bar.

The hotel's owner, a huge single malt fan, brought a few back from Scotland.

How brands of single malts or blended scotches do you have here at Cape Grace?

410 single malts.

410!

I didn't know there were that many single malts in the world!

There's about 200 distilleries in Scotland, and they all have different vintages; 12-year-old, 18-year-old, 22-year-old.

What's the most expensive for just one little drink of the single malt that you have?

The most expensive?

Right.

That will be the Glenfiddich, 50-year-old.

50-year-old Glenfiddich from Scotland.

And how much does that cost?

That's 18,000 rand a shot.

So at the current exchange rate, that's about $2500 U.S.

I think.

(man) That's correct.

(Rudy) So that's an expensive shot of single malt.

(man) It's a great single malt!

The Cape's long nautical history is a theme at the Cape Grace Hotel, and the luxurious rooms open out onto the harbor and my old friend Table Mountain.

♪ ♪ It's almost time to heahome, but I can't resist one last look at Cape Town and the peninsula.

And what a look-- Silver Cross Helicopter Charters flew me all over the sights I'd seen by land.

Face to face with the Table, whose table cloth is off today, we fly down the Atlantic coast past Camps Bay and a series of crescent bays with white beaches.

When we pivot around the Cape of Good Hope, I'm filled with hope that I'll come again to this extraordinary African peninsula.

From its sea-swallowing sunsets to its riot of flowers, to the courage and determination of its people, Cape Town is a remarkable city, a city that's working hard for a better future.

The poverty and injustice are far from over, but Cape Town is growing and changing it seems just as resilient as its national flower.

♪ ♪ This city on the edge of a continent is reinventing itself, and the world is rediscovering its many charms.

♪ ♪ Cape Townians celebrate day's end with a sundowner, and who am I to break with tradition?

Reporting from Cape Town, I'm Rudy Maxa.

Cheers!

Don't be fooled--just because you can pick up a bottle of South African wine for only $7 or $8 while visiting the country doesn't mean it's not good stuff.

That's the going price for many mainstream wines, and that's why they're inexpensive in your hometown wine shop as well.

The country is known for its robust reds, bold whites, and delicate sparkling wines.

All are a great match for the local cuisine that often includes wild game.

Salute!

Jewelry, textiles, and hand-carved wood objects are great deals in South Africa.

The open street markets usually have the best prices, and bargaining is common and accepted.

Specialty shops such as African Image in downtown Cape Town often have unusual collector items from all over the continent.

(woman) For links and photos of the places featured in "Rudy Maxa's World," and other savvy traveling tips, visit maxa.tv.

To order DVDs of "Rudy Maxa's World," visit maxa.tv.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ CC--Armour Captioning & TPT (woman) Funding for "Rudy Maxa's World" is provided by the following... (woman) Orbitz salutes the neverending spirit of adventure and as a proud sponsor of "Rudy Maxa's World" Orbitz offers comprehensive information on the world's great destinations.

From custom vacation packages to in-depth mobile tools your trip begins on Orbitz.

Take vacation back!

[Korean janggu drums play in bright rhythm] (man) Korea, be one with earth and sky.

(woman) And by Delta, serving hundreds of destinations worldwide.

Information to plan your next trip available at delta.com.

[orchestral fanfare] ♪ ♪