No trip to Cape Town, South Africa, would be complete without a visit to Robben Island, the former high-security prison for political prisoners. This World Heritage Site shares a very rich history dating back hundreds of years. The island in the rough waters off the coast of Cape Town served as a refill station for ships, a leper colony, and a prison and work camp. It is most infamous for the incarceration of several political prisoners during Apartheid, including Nelson Mandela and two others who would serve as President of South Africa.
Logistics
To visit Robben Island, you must book tickets in advance, like a month or two or more for high season. They sell out quickly. The tours begin at the Nelson Mandela Gateway in the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. Pick up tickets and board ferries here. However, double check your reservations because they can cancel tours without a lot of notice due to sea conditions. Once on the island, you board a bus, which becomes your tour group while there.
Bus Tour
The first part of visiting Robben Island is a driving tour on part of the island. A knowledgeable guide provides insights into the island’s history. The bus takes guests through the little hamlet and up to the tip of the island for views of Cape Town across the bay. This is also when guests are taken to the quarry where prisoners would spend days on end breaking boulders into gravel. Now, there is a pile of rocks in the center put as a monument to peace. Nelson Mandela laid the first rock during a visit to the island museum. Other former prisoners followed his example creating a pile of rocks now seen on South Africa’s 100 Rand banknote. Also, keep your eyes open as you’ll likely see some penguins on your trip.
Prison Tour
The Bus then drops visitors off at the gate of the prison where a former inmate leads them through the buildings. Our guide served his sentence as a young man and shared stories about the Apartheid government’s treatment of political prisoners including himself. It was a powerful testimony of their brutality and of this man’s, and that of so many others, strength and perseverance. He took us into one of the cell blocks where inmates were kept in large rooms. Originally, they slept on the floor on mats. Eventually, they received beds because they were provided by international relief organizations.
Our host then led us through the other cell blocks with individual cells including Mandela’s. These cells are so small. Mandela could walk across it in three paces. His head and feet touched the concrete walls while he slept. I could not imagine spending 18 years of my life confined to one of those cells or out performing menial, hard labor in the sweltering African sun. For him, and so many others to emerge from such an experience with forgiveness and a humble desire to make their homes better is a miracle.
February 11
My visit to Robben Island coincided with the anniversary of Mandela’s release from prison (not Robben Island at that point). It was the same day he spoke publicly, after nearly three decades, on the steps of the city hall in Cape Town where he thanked the people of the city. Being my birthday, this was a special day for me to experience all of this.
