As It Is

You can’t walk through the Bo-Kaap without confronting every colour found in a packet of skittles. As the Islamic outpost in Cape Town, you’d expect to find a meek area, instead what you find is quite the opposite—the Bo-Kaap is vibrant. Not just because of the hallucinogenic colour-quality of the houses but because of the authentic people.The Bo-Kaap is a district originally settled in by the descendants of freed slaves in the 17th century. The residents are still the Muslim descendants of Cape Malay origin but in recent years the area has become lucrative and as a result, foreigners and hip locals have rushed in to cash in and snap up a share of the skittle bounty.This scramble for the Bo-Kaap has a lot to do with the surprising location of the neighbourhood. It is sneakily hidden behind the nightclubs, restaurants and minimarkets of Long Street. It is at the foot of Signal Hill and it's close to the Business District. In spite of the changing genetic make-up, the community remains quaint and the culture of Islam is blooming. Children dressed in Madrassa clothes play on the streets running through the alleys. Over the traffic the loud tourists can be heard as the muezzin calls the community to prayer from a nearby minaret. And there is the faint but unmissable smell of traditional, spicy Cape Malay cuisine, coming from local restaurants and homes.The doors into the homes lie unusually close to the sidewalk but it’s a treat because during a casual walk, I am treated to Georgian and Dutch style doors with fanlights and gables showing how some of the homes in the Bo-Kaap are typical of Dutch and British architecture.The first time – this time—that I walked around the neighbourhood, I couldn’t help but feel that the residents held a secret and they’d let me in on it. There is plenty of romance here — the Bo-Kaap seems like a blend of urban grit and old-world shimmer. After walking around the Bo-Kaap, assaulting my eyes with colour and wearing off a pair of great shoes, I find myself sitting on cobbled stairs in the Bo-Kaap thinking of my next move. I could go into Rose’s Corner Café for a rooibos, I could turn left, up Waal Street to the Civic centre to the community hosts a market or I could continue to sit. So sit I do, I sit and I enjoy the sun because it’s the time of year when the grey clouds and that soft, silent Cape Town rain will replace the rays. The Bo-Kaap is a mosaic, some tiles chip and fall but new ones like me get added on too.