I near Mossel Bay in the evening. At about 19:00, 35km to Mossel Bay, I pass as close as 300m of the house of Wouter Brand, one of the founders and hardest working admits of T4A (Tracks for Africa - www.tracks4africa.com) to which I am also a member and will be contributing with the map data I have been collecting during my ride. He had given me the coordinates to his house (once you are into GPS, you don't talk addresses any more) and said I must definitely stop by if I should come near for any reason. I think I must skip anyway. It is the most "strategic" time of the evening, we only exchanged a few e-mails and I don't want to be perceived as if I am trying to get myself invited to join them for dinner and even spend the night at their place. I wave Wouter from a distance and pass by.

My pension in Mossel Bay, Park House Guest House, is once again a pick from the "budget" section of Lonely Planet. I am mostly attracted to the fact that it is made of stone and is 145 years old, along with the precious garden with a pool and tropical trees (www.park-house.co.za). Although I don't have enough time to appreciate all this beauty, I think I deserve some luxury after my less than modest stay in East London. That is a really elegant boutique hotel. You can feel the artistic touch in every bit of decoration, which certainly pardons the category-pushing price of it (ZAR210.00 including breakfast for a budget hotel, that is the best part of USD45.00). A menu for my dinner that will ease the pain of my long drive: Schnitzel and beer.

Today is Tuesday, 11th of April, 2006. One of the most important days of my life. Unless anything goes extraordinarily bad, I will be reaching my last stop, Cape Town by this evening. More importantly, I will be reaching the ultimate goal of my trip that is set foot on the southernmost point of Africa.

The southernmost point of Africa is, unlike many people -including me until recently- think, not Cape of Good Hope, but Cape Agulhas which is located 150km southeast of the first. This is the final stop for me and I hope to be there by noon.

11th of April, 2006 at 12:15, I park my car 150m away from that very spot. I set my camera on its tripod and gloriously took the photo below. I assume it is the first time a car with a Turkish plate is parked here.

Exactly 178 days, 3 hours and 32 minutes after I left home in Istanbul, I and my white Land Rover are here in the southernmost point of Africa. That is a dream coming true!

Me and my car at the "bottom of Africa"

It is not easy to explain how I feel. An incredible feeling of joy, an excitement so hard to control. I want to fly not walk, the last 150m instead of walking. Tiptoeing through the edge, I feel like I can fly and ease the inexplicable beats in my stomach. It is as if someone was holding their hands against my mouth, denying me inhale and at this very moment I have got rid of those mean hands, breathing the fresh air until my livers are expanded 3 times to be able to fill more of that ocean wind in. I don't know if I this can give you any idea how I feel.

Whilst enjoying my celebration coffee and cake in the small cafe on the rocks of Cape Agulhas, I called Buket to let her know.

Cape Agulhas Lighthouse

Cape Agulhas Lighthouse was built in 1848 and is the second oldest lighthouse in South Africa. Records say that it is an imitation of Alexandria Lighthouse. That would be the same Alexandria Lighthouse which was deemed to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World, collapsed in B.C. 700 and replaced by a castle built by Kayitbay, the emperor of Memluks. That's what the records say but I can't confirm.

I leave N2 highway and head south in order to enter Cape Town via False Bay, which is a wide bay surrounded by Cape Town in the north and Cape of Good Hope on the west. As per the name: The adventurous Dutch salesmen, on their way back from east, confused it with Table Bay (named after Table Mountain right behind it), which is a relatively smaller bay facing north, surrounded by Cape Town. The reason is that the Cape Hangklip located east of Cape Town and Cape Point located south of Table Bay have very similar shapes. Once they found out that they had made a mistake, they rename the bay as "False Bay" (Vaalsbai in Afrikaan).

The mist gets denser as I approach False Bay. This actually is not mist but water particles from the see floating in the air. They stick to your windshield and after a while, you can't see anything. You need to run the sweepers frequently and spray some clean water, too as it is the sea water. Sand from the sea is now on both sides of the road. In a short while, I find myself in the shore and see the angry waves of Indian Ocean beating the coast whilst a strong wind further pulverizing the water in the air.

Fishing Line Salesmen in False Bay

My target for tonight is St. John Waterfront Lodge. Again from Lonely Planet's "budget" section, referred to as "usually recommended, a spacious, peaceful and friendly hostel". Besides it is located in Green point which is a trendy settlement very close to downtown. Green Point is also close to Waterfront, the town that never sleeps. It is the home to many of town's elite bars and restaurants, making him the most important point of attraction in Cape Town.

Cape Town section of T4A's GPS map is very rich in details, thus it is quite easy for me to mark St. John Waterfront Lodge's location on my navigator. Going there neither is a challenge, thanks to smooth and neatly marked roads of Cape Town. I had decided to stay here before I reached Cape Town and reserved the room by e-mail, from Durban as far as I remember. I checked into my room in the hostel, consisted of two separate villas with large gardens. Common bath/WC is not annoying to me.

I need to go to the agency of the transportation company to hand the carnet du passage and some other documents. I also need to sort out my return flight and buy a port-baggage type tent before I get the car loaded in the container. Tomorrow's last line of duty would be to sort which belongings to take with me and which to leave in the car. Now that I've completed tomorrow's schedule and taken a shower, I can dive into the vivacious center of Cape Town.

For dinner, I will go to a restaurant which I spotted before, called Anatoli. Lonely Planet is particularly bought on its delicious starters. The name and variety of starters strongly suggest that it is a Turkish restaurant. It is a short walk from where I stay. As I arrive, I see my theory confirmed; it indeed is a Turkish restaurant. You can tell from the carpets on the walls, tiled table in the entrance and Turkish flag hanging from the kitchen door, among many other objects from Turkey. They seem to be doing the final preparations for the evening service. Somebody welcomes me and I introduce myself. We continue our conversation in Turkish. Tayfun Aras, while he was a carpet salesman in Marmaris, meets a girl in a tourist group from South Africa, marries her and moves to Cape Town leaving everything behind. He buys this restaurant from a couple of short term owners who had bought it from a South African architect that lived in Istanbul for many years and his partner, a Turkish cook who originally found the place. Anatoli is now one of the finest restaurants of Cape Town and here is their web address should you be interested to pay a visit: www.anatoli.co.za

Anatoli Restaurant: Tayfun and his staff

They loved my story. The tiled table I just mentioned, instantly converted to a "cilingir" table (a Turkish style table with Raki and lots of entremeses) for Tayfun and myself with Mustafa the cook and two waiters, all Turkish, joining us occasionally. With a few hours of very pleasant conversation, I feel I should leave because Tayfun obviously needs to take care of the customers who one after other began flowing in. I promise I'd come back again, though, tomorrow evening and this time with the car. Right to my hotel and into my room.

I wake up early in the morning and go to the agency, obviously not very welcome by the he girl who gave me a hard time on the phone. It is not long till I can see she is as determined today about not listening and not trying to understand. Although I informed her about my itinerary on the phone as well as with my e-mails, I find out that there still are things missing and it pisses me off. I need to stay calm though as I have my flight on Friday and I must make sure I finish this loading today and tomorrow. We go through things once more. As far as I can see, the missing links are not much and they can easily be solved by a few telecons. In half an hour, we sort out everything and now I got an appointment for tomorrow 11:00 to meet with the customs safety officer in front of the container that my vehicle will be loaded to. Now that this one is over, I can deal with the rest of my tasks. I will be flying Qatar Airlines but their office in the city is closed for some reason. I am heading into their office in the airport.

Ticket task is also checked. On to that "tent" deal now. Let me explain to those who'd go "what tent? why at the end of the trip?". As you may recall, while I was planning my trip, I had thought that I might end up sleeping in the car on certain nights and hence tried to prepare the back of the vehicle as a living area. I did not need this so much anyway. But on that few occasions that I did, it was not any different than lying on a mud bath. Besides it is not comfortable and needs a long preparation. I can now this tent from here, which I originally planned to buy in the beginning of the trip but could not acquire from Turkey. "Why at the end of trip" you ask? For my future trips off course.

These tents come in various sizes and quality levels. Several nice models can be found in Europe. However, there are 2 brands that differentiate themselves worldwide: Eezi Awn and Hannibal. This "heavy duty" tents if I may call them are by far the first choice of all experienced long distance travelers. Funny enough, both are made in South Africa and are being exported from here to whole world. I had decided to get an Eezi Awn 140cm wide model and got my roof modified in accordance with that (Otokar modified their original roof as per my request). By exchanging a few e-mails with Eezi Awn, I find out that there is a retail shop in Cape Town that has one of them in stock. I call them again before leaving the hotel, just in case, make sure they have it, and get their address, more importantly their GPS coordinates. After grabbing my tickets I lock on to these coordinates but there is something weird here. It marks a location 150km northwest of where I am, Cape Town Airport. I am having second thoughts now: Should I make 300km just to buy a tent? I call them again, they tell me the same coordinates. When I tell them it is 150km away, they think I am making a mistake and ask me to call them back in a few minutes. This time they give me a detailed address and I head into that direction. Either the guy gave me very good instructions or I have a talent at finding addresses, I find the place at once.

Oh my God, what a store! It is huge and packed with everything that an off-road or trans-continental traveler can ever dream of. I must focus on my tent or I may lose it!. It is ready. We unpack it and mount it on my port-baggage. Mission completed! Now I can go back to the hotel and sort my stuff.

I will take my backpack and off course camera bag and laptop. All the rest stays in the car, including part of the clothes. I sort out all the stuff, trying to keep my backpack within 15kg limit and the car is now ready to load. That will remove a big hump from my back tomorrow. I have been tired of worrying about the car since 180 days.

I am going to Tayfun's (Anatoli Restautant) in the evening. But I can't stay for dinner. ABSA, the major bank of South Africa is closing down the place for their senior executives and VIP customers. They have a very interesting schedule. Guests start coming after 18:00. At 19:00 a Harley Davidson chopper for each guest (around 32 of them in total) arrive with their drivers, pick up the guests and take them to a rock concert in the city stadium. After the concert, back to the restaurant again with HDs and party until dawn! Even a belly dancer will be on stage.

My Vehicle and Anatoli Restaurant

After a "take a photo with an Istanbul number plate car" ceremony with Tayfun and his personnel, I take the car back to my hotel in order to make room for the choppers and hurry back to restaurant as I don't want to miss the show. At 19:00, they fill the street with their roaring sounds under the astonishing looks of not only the guests of Anatoli, but also the next door bar. Tayfun buys them all a drink in order to make up for the horror caused!

ABSA Show with HDs

Next morning I get up early and have my breakfast. As I try to enter the road instruction into my navigator, I realize that the container port and the road that leads to it are already marked on the map. Obviously I am not the only person to ship his vehicle back at the end of the trip. Our appointment was for 11:00. I am there at 10:00. Got to wait. I hand my documents to the officer and wait.

They tell me that the container is ready. I park inside facing out. The rules dictate that I disconnect the battery cables. I can just shutdown the main breaker. The gas tank must also be below %20. That's why I have been buying 3 to 5 liters of gas since a few days in Cape Town. The indicator points to bottom mark.

I uncover the hood for the motor and chassis no check. The officer finally arrives. He asks who owns the car. They point at me. And then he goes "where is the car?". I didn't know that the blind men are eligible to become customs officer in South Africa. We are in front of the container, both doors of which are wide open and the car is about 1 meter away. He can almost touch it if he reaches and he asks me where the car is. Must be the procedure. I point at the car. Unimpressed he says "according to the rules, your vehicle must have been parked outside the container". I think the customs officer are one of a kind all around the world. I apologize, get back in the car, parallel parked it to the centimeter next to the container, get off, hit my heels to each other hard and yell "Sir, the vehicle is ready for your examination, sir!" or wish I did that last one. He checks the motor and chassis numbers, quickly walks around the car and tells me I could put it back. Is that it? I park it back in. They nail down some slipway frames beneath the wheels of the car and tie it properly to the walls of the container. As they close the doors, it gets emotional again. Sadness of parting ways with my vehicle after 180 days of company on one hand, and the excitement as I am safely completing my dream project of long years.

Time to Part Ways

I accompany the guy from my forwarding agency to city centre so that he can get my carnet du passage and other documents signed and hand them to me. I wait in the car as they get it done upstairs. I get my carnet du passage and go back to my hotel.

Now I can see a lot of sights in Cape Town until my day of return flight. The best way to do this, in my humble opinion, is to buy a "hop on - hop off" type of bus ride. As you may know, these are a group of tourist coaches, usually double-deckers, circling along a certain route and you can enjoy as many hops on and off along this route either sunbathing on the open roof upper deck or chilling on the lower deck. What I usually do is, I do one complete ring without getting off, listen to what the guide has to say, see which stops would be the most interesting ones for me and hop off on that very stops during following rounds. That's what I'll be doing in Cape Tow, too. There are two different tours. One is the Red Route that stops mainly at the central tourist attractions most importantly Table Mountain and the other is the Blue Route that goes around the elite coastal line. I will spare a day for each one of them. On Sunday I will see Robben Island and on Monday, the vineyards.

First day of sightseeing: Red Route. I go to Waterfront that is the starting point of the route, early in the morning. It kind of looks like Kalamis Bay in Istanbul, only it is a couple of times larger, both for space and facilities. This is the liveliest spot in all Cape Town especially on weekends. Lots of restaurants, cafes, bars as well as malls and a giant aquarium all make it such a vivid place.

I am particularly interested in seeing two sights on this tour: First Table Mountain. We pass the twisting roads to get to the departure point of cableway. There is a very long queue. We start waiting.

As a matter of fact, one can climb to that plain 1,086m above sea level, via more than 300 different routes, even the shortest of which takes hours to complete. I don't think I have that kind of time. You are strictly recommended to take a guide with you anyway.

The first cableway that climbs to Table Mountain was put in operation in 1929. It has been restored 3 times since than, the last one being in 1997 when its cars were also replaced with new ones that can carry 65 people at once. Total cable length is 1,200m and its vertical range is 765m. The cars rotate during the ride, presenting its guests with a panoramic view. There is a certain risk involved when one wants to climb to Table Mountain. Don worry, it is nothing to be scared. It is just that the mountain has an infamous cloud, ironically called "Table Cloth", that comes from North at the least expected times and cover all the mountain. If that happens to you, you end up wasting your time and money as you can't see a damned thing neither on your way up, nor over the top.

Table Mountain and Table Cloth. Waterfront in Front

A final note about Table Mountain: There has been a huge fire here 3 months before my visit, precisely in January 2006. Most of the pine woods on the skirts were wrecked and a tourist died. An English tourist was arrested afterwards, to cause the fire with carelessness.

My second interesting point of visit today is District Six Museum. It tells the sad tale of District Six. This is a neighborhood close to city centre and has taken this name in 1867. Mostly inhabited by black (then called "colored" by white South Africans) people and immigrants (Indians and Overseas Malays), District Six was allotted to white people in 1966 by the government. The inhabitants were given 3 years to evacuate their houses. But with a sudden decision, even before that deadline, the government started wrecking the houses and exiling District Six inhabitants to settlements in Cape Plains, located 25km out of the city. The inhabitants try to resist but can't do much as the government uses extreme power and violence, ruining all the buildings but the holly ones with bulldozers. However, due to strong international criticism, they had to cancel the project of constructing new houses solely for white people and so until recently, there was nothing but The Cape Technikon building, part of Cape Peninsula Technology University on the area. After the collapse of Apartheid in 1993, the government confirmed a new law in 2000 which dictated that the area would be returned to its rightful owners. In 2004, exactly 38 years later than this ugly decision taken by Apartheid Government, these people got back their neighborhood on which their ancestors have lived for generations.

District Six Museum. On the Floor is the Map of the Area Before 1968. The Exiles Wrote Their Names on to the Spots Where Their Houses Once Were