Cape Town: 29 Jan 2008 to 3 Feb 2008

Greeted by Table Mountain, Signal Hill and Devil’s Peak, Jan van Riebeeck first sailed into what would become Cape Town—South Africa’s Mother City—in 1652 on behalf of the Dutch East India Company to set up a post at Table Bay.

What started out as a project to grow fruits and vegetables, do some livestock bartering with the Hottentot (Khoikhoi) tribes, establish a hospital and a place to repair ships, has grown into an incomparable city. Township and street names reflect the Dutch, British, French, German and Indonesian heritage of the city along with those of the local San (Bushman), Hottentot and Bantu tribes. Modern avenues alternate with cobble stoned streets, and mosques with the flat-roofed, pastel homes of Malay Quarter.

Greeted by Table Mountain, Signal Hill and Devil’s Peak, Jan van Riebeeck first sailed into what would become Cape Town—South Africa’s Mother City—in 1652 on behalf of the Dutch East India Company to set up a post at Table Bay.

What started out as a project to grow fruits and vegetables, do some livestock bartering with the Hottentot (Khoikhoi) tribes, establish a hospital and a place to repair ships, has grown into an incomparable city. Township and street names reflect the Dutch, British, French, German and Indonesian heritage of the city along with those of the local San (Bushman), Hottentot and Bantu tribes. Modern avenues alternate with cobble stoned streets, and mosques with the flat-roofed, pastel homes of Malay Quarter.