Robben Island

Monday 2nd April – Off to Robben Island

The day dawned fine, warm and clear. High above there were a few wispy streamers of light cloud painting the blue African sky. We had the morning free but had booked in for an afternoon ferry ride out to Robben Island. This place was most famous as the island prison where Nelson Mandela was held captive for 27 years during the infamous days of apartheid.

I spent the morning in a fruitless search for a charger for my tablet. Although this gave me an interesting insight into some of the less glamorous parts of the city, it did not result in a successful conclusion. Along the way I did discover just how many people can fit into an 11 seater taxi van (correct answer is 20). At least all of my fellow squashees were polite and cheerful.

At 2 pm I was back at the waterfront and ready for the tour of Robben Island. The island lies about 7 km off the coast and has served as a penal and leper colony at various times in its checkered history. In more recent times it was used to house political prisoners (males and blacks only) who were deemed by the apartheid regime to be enemies of the state. The ferry ride took about 35 minutes, and this was followed by an extended tour of the prison, conducted by a former inmate who had been held captive here for 11 years.

The return trip on the ferry gave us a glorious view of Cape Town and Table Mountain. It would be hard to imagine a more impressive approach to any port in the world.Read more