Watch Prof Richard Washington and The Tipping Points crew here. Increased temperatures in the Indian Ocean adjacent to the east coast of Africa are warming up the fastest of any ocean on the planet. This is bringing with it increased kinetic energy, which converts to massive hot winds that are buffering the African coastline and then drawing moisture out of the Congo. As Dr Michael Marshall, from the United States Geological Survey, explains it's all very inter-linked, like a set of dominos. Once you knock one, you set about a chain reaction. What was Cape Town like?

Cape Town was beautiful, colourful, and home to the Fynbos (natural shrubland or heathland vegetation occurring in a small belt of the Western Cape of South Africa), one of the oldest Biomes on the planet. Here you find over 60% of all seed profiles in Africa on the on location - and Proteas (South African flowering plants), just like ones we have in Australia, which have a genetic footprint of over 6 million years. Dr Nicky Allsopp from the South African Environmental Observation Network, measures changes in rainfall and explained to us that fresh water supply is a massive problem for this area, and could impact on the Fynbos in the coming years.

Climate journalist Climate Journalist Bernice Notenboom observing the Fynbos. And Namibia? From Cape Town we headed to Namibia to visit a major NOAA climate monitoring station - part of a chain of data collection points that tell us how fast and how rapid the climate system is changing.

A lady from the Namibian village. Namibia Desert.

Villagers preparing food in Namibia. 

Namibia Desert.

From Port Elizabeth we set off to observe out at sea with Dr Tommy Bornman, from the South African Environmental Observation Network to observe the changes in ocean current, particularly the Agulhas Current, which is off the coast of South Africa and is said to stimulate North-South ocean circulation in the Atlantic. This 'conveyor belt', which redistributes and controls heat around the globe, is threatening to slow down due to melting ice off the Greenland Icesheet. However, scientists and satellite measurements show this small but powerful current is helping accelerate the currents and keep Europe's temperatures still relatively mild.