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Robben Island

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     Cape Town, South Africa 8000
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Robben Island: A Place of History and Nature

  • July 29, 2008
  • Rated 5 of 5 by Norman from Cooper City, Florida
Robben Island: A Place of History and Nature

Robben Island is 7 kilometers off the coast of Capetown, and is reached by a ferry available at the Nelson Mandela Gateway, next to the Clock Tower. From there you can take the 20 minute ride across Table Bay to tour the island and its prison. The island is a World Heritage Site (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/916) due to its history, most noteworthy, the prison that housed many South African political prisoners including Nelson Mandela.
The 3.5 hour tour includes the round trip ferry ride, a guided bus tour of the island, and a guided tour of the prison. There are stops during the bus tour where get a closer look at penguins, and take pictures. The prison tour guides are all former political prisoners, making the tour come alive based on their personal experiences. From the World Heritage site, "Robben Island and its prison buildings symbolize the triumph of the human spirit, of freedom, and of democracy over oppression."
I highly recommend this activity.
Be aware: 1. The ferry, and thus the tours, can be cancelled due to poor weather. The ferry cannot make the crossing during high seas.
2. The tours can be crowded with over 250 people per ferry, so arrive early and reserve your ticket. You must go through security to ride the ferry.
For more information: Robben Island Museum http://www.robben-island.org.za/
Robben Island http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robben_Island

From journal Wonderful Cape Town

Robben Island Tour

  • April 21, 2007
  • Rated 5 of 5 by Kimlen from Miami, Florida
It is amazing to tour Robben Island and hear the history straight from former political prisoners. Ask them questions, listen, and be thankful that they are sharing some of the most painful parts of their lives with us so we may be able to learn and grow as a race. Be sure to make reservations to secure your tour BEFORE you plan on going. It took me four hours to get on at a cancellation spot. Try to sit at a widow on the bus ride because we were not allowed to get off to take pictures, and there is a lot that you want to capture, from the lighthouse to the penguins.

From journal Cape Town Beauty

Editor Pick

Robben Island

  • February 3, 2007
  • Rated 5 of 5 by MikeInTown from Norristown, Pennsylvania
Robben Island

Robben Island has served as a leper colony between 1836 and 1931 and later as a maximum security prison for political prisoners until 1991. South Africa's former President and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Nelson Mandela, spent 18 years of his 27-year sentence in a tiny cell on this island.

From the V&A Waterfront, the ferry boat ride to the island takes about a half hour. Once there, there are two parts to the tour: the Island Tour which takes you around the island in a school bus and the Prison Tour which walks you through the prison. You find out which tour you are doing first when you get to the island. Basically, if you get off the boat and find that all of the school buses are full then that means you are doing the prison tour first.

The prison tour begins with everyone taking the same walk from the dock to the prison as every new inmate did when the prison was in operation. Inside, we met our guide, Len. Len spent 6.5 years as a prisoner on Robben Island. He walked us through the various sections of the building while explaining the hardships he and other inmates endured here. For example, we learned about the bucket system in which each inmate was given a bucket that he was expected to use as a toilet, a bath, and laundry wash. Len told us a community bathroom was eventually added during his stay.

We were shown the tiny cell in which Nelson Mandela spent 18 years. With the exception of his cell, we were given time to wander in and out of other cells. Each contains a bio or anecdote about the inmate(s) who lived there.

After our 45-minute tour of the prison, we boarded a school bus for our circle tour of Robben Island. We were shown sights such as the remnants of a leper colony, the solitary confinement chambers of inmates, the quarry in which prisoners were forced to work 8 hours per day, and the community in which the current residents of Robben Island live. Surprisingly, some former prisoners now live in harmony in this neighborhood with former wardens. The former inmates told us it was the non-violent and forgiving attitude of Nelson Mandela that has helped them get over the resentment they had of being imprisoned.

One other thing we noticed during our ride around the island is the wildlife. There are rabbits everywhere. We also saw antelope on the uninhabited side of the island. We even saw a colony of penguins.

Our visit to Robben Island, including the ferry boat rides, lasted three and a half hours. It was one of the highlights of my time in Cape Town. I've visited many museums in which you see exhibits and read the posted information; however, to be guided by people who actually lived the history makes the experience far more moving and educational. I was humbled by this tour.

From journal A Cape Town Look Around

Editor Pick

Becoming Prisoners on Robben Island

  • April 16, 2006
  • Rated 5 of 5 by kwasiak from Tucson, Arizona
Becoming Prisoners on Robben Island

To get to Robben Island, you must board a ferry from a dock near the Red Clock Tower in the Waterfront area of Cape Town. The building you go through to board the ferry has a small apartheid museum.

The ferry ride is about half an hour long and sometimes can be pretty rough. The outside decks become full and crowded fast, as the majority of the space for passengers is on the bottom level inside. If you do end up standing outside, be ready for a windy and wet ride. I suggest riding inside on the way there in order to see the short movie on Robben Island. If you want to experience the ride outside, do it on the way back, as the movie does not show then. The movie mostly gives the information you will probably hear on your tour on the island, but it does give a better pre-1900 history than you are likely to hear on the tour.

Once on the island, you are corralled into buses or are part of a group that goes into the maximum-security prison first. I ended up on one of the historical buses that once carried the guards around the island. It was not very comfortable considering we had to squish three people per row. The bus tour takes you to many of the sites on the island, but you only get to see them from inside the bus. One of the stops was at the house used as a solitary prison for some man, who I did not catch the name of because I was too busy watching the penguin by the bus. Other stops included the village, where the guards once lived and now occupied by those working on Robben Island, and the limestone quarry, where Nelson Mandela and others worked during part of their time in prison.

The bus tour ended at the maximum-security prison, where we met our prison tour guide. Currently, all tours are given by ex-political prisoners who were held here for various anti-apartheid actions, such as being a member of the banned group, the African National Congress (ANC). The tour inside the prison was rather short, with a quick stop in front of Nelson Mandela’s cell and a stop inside a large cell that held up to 100 sleeping on the floor at one time.

After the tour, you are released from prison and walk back to the ferry dock. Before boarding the ferry, you can stop at the bookshop, but I found it very disappointing that it did not carry Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom.

From journal Cape Town: First World to Third World

Editor Pick

Robben Island

  • November 29, 2005
  • Rated 5 of 5 by MiriamMannak from Cape Town
Robben Island

The purpose of Robben Island changed a number of times over the last century. It used to be a leprosy colony, then an ordinary prison, and it served as a defence fortification during the two world wars. And from the second half of the 20th century until the 1990s, Robben Island was one of the most notorious prison islands in the world.

Here, on this tiny island 11km from Cape Town's coastline, thousands of anti-apartheid activists and dissidents were held for years, including Nelson "Madiba" Mandela, South Africa's first democratically elected president and one of the world's most-loved personalities.

I have been to Robben Island a couple of times, and I have the feeling I will go back there at least once more. Tours around the island and through the prison are simply extremely interesting.

A trip to Robben Island takes about 3 hours and takes visitors to the prison and on an island tour, with a viewing of the limestone quarry, Garrison Church (1841), lighthouse (1863), Leper's Church (1895), guesthouse (1895), and Kramat, or Muslim shrine.

Robben Island is home of a variety of seabirds, including the African (jackass) penguin and a colony of Cape cormorants. There is also wildlife, such as the bontebok and ostriches.

During your trip, you not only learn about the cruelty and brutality of the apartheid regime and the miserable situation in the prison, but you also learn about courage, faith, and strength, and about how prisoners dealt with their situation, what they did to prevent their spirits from being broken, how they made friendships amongst another, and how they forgave and moved on.

Detail: The tours through the prison, which was built by the prisoners themselves on top of an old leprosy grave yard, are given by former prisoners.

In 1999, Robben Island was added to UNESCO's World Heritage list. Several times a day, ferries depart from the Robben Island Exhibition and Information Centre, situated next door to the Clock Tower building.

This granite building harbors a museum depicting the history of Robben Island and the political struggle against oppression and for freedom and democracy. Here one can purchase lithographs of original Nelson Mandela paintings.

ADVICE: A ticket to Robben island costs about R150 (±17 Euro) and is to be purchased at the Nelson Mandela Gateway. If you have a credit card, you may make reservations over the phone. This is highly recommended in summer, as Robben Island is one of the most popular attraction; prevent disappointment and make that reservation.

From journal What to do in Cape Town?

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