Good day and welcome. You should be standing outside the former Slave Lodge, at the top of Adderley Street.

I'm Ursula and I'm a Capetonian. I have been a language and history teacher, a hiking-...

Keep following Wale Street. On your left is St. George’s Cathedral, also known as the Peoples’ Cathedral. It played an important role in the struggle against apartheid and is worth visiting, if you...

Cross the street in front of you and continue walking along Wale Street.

As you walk, have a look at the formidable art deco-style Provincial Legislature on your left. And on the opposite side of Wale Street is the Mandela Rhodes building complex.

[PAUSE]

We are ...

Turn left at this corner and carry on. This is Long Street.

We are now walking towards an art installation called “Open House”. It stands next to the Provincial Parliament to symbolise that dem...

Stop here, next to the red 'Open House' structure on your left.

Feel free to walk up the steps, so that you can get a better view of the Hanafee Mosque, on the opposite side of the street.

...

Keep going, towards the palm tree ahead.

Incidentally, the various religious schools, known as madhabs, do not analyse the Koran; they pronounce on external matters, deciding on what to declare ...

Stop here and look at the small, flat-roofed humble building on your left. This is the country’s second oldest mosque and dates back to 1807. It's known as the Palm Tree Mosque or the Jan van Boegi...

Keep walking straight.

Now, why do you think Islam took root in the Cape?

Well, a large part of the answer lies in the Dutch East India Company's fear of the spread of Islam in the Far East,...

Cross the street in front of you, turn left and start walking up the hill. This is Dorp Street.

Carry on walking up the hill while I tell you more about how Islam grew in the Cape.

Sheik Yusuf of Macassar was prominent amongst the early influential exiles here. He was born in 1626 and hail...

Cross the street in front of you. This is Loop Street, which in English means ‘Walking Street’. Keep following Dorp Street uphill.

You're doing well, carry on going up the hill!

Sheik Yusuf came to the Cape on 2 April 1694 and lived on the farm Zandvliet near Stellenbosch, about 40 km from Cape Town. The farm soon became a ...

The street ahead is Bree Street, which means 'Broad Street'. Cross over and continue up the hill.

We're now heading towards Buitengracht Street, which means 'Outer-Canal' Street.

This was originally the western border of old Cape Town. As late as 1771, slaves were digging a street canal for...

Turn right at this corner, with its busy barbershop. Customers often have to queue outside because it's so popular.

In the 1860s the canal system collapsed due to pollution, but street names su...

At the traffic lights turn to your left and cross Buitengracht Street.

Turn left into the service road and walk towards the second building on your right.

Stop here, outside the Nurul Islam Mosque.

Welcome to Bo-Kaap! The name means, 'the High Cape', and this is the oldest, but never exclusive, Muslim area of the country.

The first humble home...

Turn right into Dorp Street, the ‘Village Street’. Stop when you are in line with the row of palm trees on your left.

[PAUSE]

Behind the palm trees is the Auwal Mosque, South Africa's oldest ...

Stop and have a look at the narrow side street on your left – you will feel transported to some Mediterranean island, a countryside village.

Now you will notice that Dorp Street is turning more ...

You are now walking through the historic heart of the Bo-Kaap, which for many people, is still known as the Malay Quarter. These houses were constructed between the 1750s and 1850s and were first o...

Stop here, at this charming row of cottages known as 'huurhuisjes'. These were built by the sexton of the Groote Kerk, which is the large Dutch Reformed Church on Adderley Street. His name was Jan ...

Stop when you get a view of the hill on your left.

[5 SECOND PAUSE]

Have a look across the parking area on the left, at some of the modern housing development on the hill. That is the area o...

Walk down the steps into an arched passageway, decorated by the Bo-Kaap Heritage Mural. Stop when you're in the archway and have a look around.

[pause in audio]

This work was created by Iran...

Take a slow stroll along this street to enjoy the local architecture.

The houses with their open terraces are known as stoeps, and radiate a feeling of tranquility. The stoep was often the proj...

This is Mosque Shafee, on your left. It was built in 1847.

Stop on this corner and turn to face the way you've just walked. Look up towards Lion’s Head. Can you see a tall minaret peeking over t...

Turn right here and keep walking.

We are heading towards the Tana Baru Cemetery. It's quite an isolated area, so please take care.

Continue straight.

Turn left here.

As you walk, let me tell you a little about the cemetery.

Tana Baru means 'New Land' and it's made up of several independent adjacent burial grounds. The Cape Muslims achieve...

Turn right here and carry on going. We're almost there!

Among the many graves on the Tana Baru are those of Imam Abdullah ibn Kadi Abdus Salaam, also known as Tuan Guru, Tuan Nuruman, Abu Bakr E...

Stop at this intersection. I want to point out where you need to go after you've visited the Tana Baru.

The street running down towards the city is Longmarket. You will need to follow it to con...

Before you enter the cemetery, please make sure you are modestly dressed. Women need to cover their heads.

When you are ready, you can head through the main gates and I'll meet you inside.

Stop here for a moment.

Inside the facebrick structure on the left is the holy grave of Tuan Guru. This is known as a kramat.

Straight ahead is the kramat of Tuan Said Aloewie. If you go ins...

Well done, you found me!

Now, as you walk down Longmarket Street, let me tell you how Islam began to spread in the Cape.

During the first fifty years of Dutch settlement there was seldom a ti...

Stop here, outside the Boorhaanol Mosque, which was built in 1884.

The mosque was originally known as the Pilgrims’ Mosque and has been closely linked to strife and discord amongst the Muslim p...

Turn right at this corner and carry on walking. This is Rose Street.

You may be disappointed by a very different picture of Bo-Kaap along here, in comparison with the more colourful Chiappini S...

Stop here and look across the street at the cream building with curvilinear mouldings and a high, open stoep. That's the Bo-Kaap Museum. The undulating roof-line was once widespread in Bo-Kaap, but...

Stop here, outside the Atlas Trading Store where Capetonians have been shopping for spices for over seventy years.

We tend to forget that it was the search for spices that landed the Dutch East...