Stormy Travels: Robben Island

Today we awoke at 6am and realized just how bad our sunburns were from our hike yesterday. Apparently spending 4 hours under the direct sun at the highest point in Cape Town has that effect. Off to the shops we went in search of aloe and sunscreen!

For breakfast, we went to the lounge. Today I remembered to take photos! Hunter and I shared an eggs royale dish and had some of the other goodies they had, including sushi! We also stocked up on water bottles from the lounge as they haven't been filling our room with them like we have experienced elsewhere.

The view from breakfast today!

Eggs Royale again

Hot dishes

Pastry

Cold dishes, water, milk, yogurts, fruits, and juices

After breakfast, around 8am, we took an Uber to MOCCA as that was the closest drop-off point to the pier where the Robben Island boat tour left from. We stopped at the pharmacy right there and picked up sunscreen as well as a cooling aloe. We quickly applied the aloe before entering the queue for the boat to Robben Island. We scanned our boarding passes and showed our ID, then boarded the boat called SIKHULULEKILE. Hunter and I picked a seat on the middle deck, trying to avoid the sun right now, but still made sure to sit right beside a window. We exited the bay, and saw many ships, including an Antarctic ice breaker ship. Even though we are at the southern tip of Africa, Antarctica is extremely far. The most southern point in South America is actually closer than we currently are. Hopefully, soon we can catch that 7th continent, but that's for another day!

The clock tower near the boat terminal and pharmacy we stopped at

Inside the terminal

Timelines of information surrounded the room

Our boat

All the different boats in the bay

Into the open ocean!

The TV screen with an informational video

The boat ride took approximately 45 minutes. The distance is approximately 6km from the mainland to the island although the route from the harbor was much longer. Once on the island, we got on a bus for the start of the tour. Our guide pointed out the visitors center where family and prisoners could meet once every 6 months. We then passed the maximum security prison which is where we will get to walk around at the end of the bus tour.

Our first stop was at a graveyard for those with leprosy. The island had been a leper colony before a prison and the guide told us there were around 120 graves. Some of the graves had been covered by the prison too when the inmates were building new areas. After that, we stopped at the limestone quarry. This is where inmates, including Nelson Mandela, worked. They were told to dig the lime and create their own pavements back to the prison. They also used lime to build additional prison buildings. They were always supervised and if they ever tried to escape, the guards were told to shoot to kill. The guide also told us about this cave they used as a bathroom, but eventually turned into a university where the inmates could discuss things amongst one another. The guide said they had a slogan too which translates to “each one, teach one”. She also pointed out the pile of rocks, which when Mandela returned to give a speech in 1995, he was walking around and decided to place a stone, then everyone else did the same thing, and a rock pile was formed. They call it the stones of remembrancy.

Graves of those with leprosy

Lime Quarry

Stone pile

The next highlight was the Sobukwe complex which is one of the prisons that was only for Robert Sobukwe. Robert was one of the freedom fighters and the founder of the ANC. This prison is very small and Robert was isolated for years. They provided him a daily newspaper, but he had no one to share it with and have discussions with, eventually giving him mental issues. The Sobukwe clause was created for Robert allowing them to keep him in prison forever. He stayed in prison until he was released to house arrest in ill health where he died.

Sobukwe complex

We then were shown the local village which is where the guards used to live with their families. Now the island staff and their families live there, approximately 200 people. They used to have a school for the children, but now children go to school in Cape Town due to dwindling enrollment. We also saw the medium-security prison and a church you can get married in, but only one day a year. The tour guide joked that any wedding here is a maximum sentence. We then stopped at the southern point of the island for some views of Cape Town and saw some penguins which live on these outlying islands. Hunter and I both wanted to go see the penguins more but the tour focus was more on the history than the adorable birds.

Medium security prison

Local Village

The south point of the island

The bus we were touring on

Lighthouse on the island

Table Mountain and Lions Head

Us and Table Mountain

Penguin houses!

PENGUINS!

Church on the way back to the next part of the tour

Back past the graveyard returning to the maximum security prison

Finally, the bus dropped us off back at the main cell block. Here we were passed to a new tour guide, Bafo Nguqu. Bafo was actually an inmate here in the 1980s which was surprising to us as we did not expect anyone who previously served time here to be a guide. He told us he was imprisoned due to violating the South African terrorism act. Hunter actually found the court proceedings for his case later in the evening when I was writing my blog and we were talking more about it. Very interesting! Bafo took us around the various cell blocks explaining what life was like. Most importantly we talked about how education was a privilege at the time and not a right. Many of the inmates would complete assignments, but because it was up to the guards to account for them, sometimes assignments went missing and many people were unable to receive credit thus remain “uneducated”. After this, Bafo took us to the courtyard where the Namibian prisoners' cell block was, although Namibia is now its own country it has a long and complicated history with South Africa. From there we moved into the administrative and special prisoner complex where the prison was run from and where some of the most sensitive prisoners, including Nelson Mandela, were held. In the courtyard of the administrative building we also saw the garden where Mandela smuggled the manuscript of his book out. His cell was simple and he actually mainly slept on a mat while at Robben Island. From there we went into a film screening room which Bafo explained was mostly added to placate Red Cross observers. After leaving the administrative wing of the prison we walked back out the main gate and down to the waiting boat. On the way, we grabbed a coke light since we were both super thirsty from all the walking under the hot sun. It definitely would have been an experience to be out here for years on end working every day.

Our guide Bafo

Into the cell block

Penguin territory protection

The boat ride back was a bit choppier than the ride out but still went very smoothly. On the way, there was a video that was clearly from the era of apartheid with a bunch of children and family members of the prison guard's families talking about how nice life was on their little island. It was definitely a big contrast with what we had seen inside the prison and it was interesting that they chose to screen it since, unless you were paying attention, it mostly felt like a bunch of kids talking about how nice it was to run around an island with their pets. When we got back to the port we spotted some seals lounging on the dock as we were unloading. They were South African fur seals and they were quite adorable and photogenic.

From the Robben Island terminal, we walked back across the swinging inner harbor bridge to the V&A Waterfront which is fast becoming a favorite area of ours. We were both hungry after our long morning and in the mood for something yummy. Hunter had found a highly reviewed burger joint called Gibson's which has ~35 fancy burgers and over 200 shakes! I ordered the onion blossom burger and Hunter ordered the governor's de-luxe burger. We also got a caramel cashew shake to share! It was delicious.

They call this the "lovers glass" because it comes with two straws

Governor's De-luxe Burger

Blossom Burger

After lunch, we returned back to our hotel as I needed to do some remote work. We went up to the lounge for a few afternoon drinks and snacks as well. I had my iPad with me and was able to accomplish quite a bit on the work front.

After working and keeping up to date on everything, we headed out for a sunset/golden hour walk and dinner. We walked along sea point promenade and came upon the Mandela Glasses and Green Point Lighthouse. After our walk, we stopped for dinner at Sotano, a highly-reviewed Mediterranean restaurant the locals love. We decided to order a calamari flatbread and two sushi rolls, one Sakura crunch roll and one seared tuna fashion sandwich. Everything was incredibly delicious. After dinner, we returned to the hotel. I finished up some work things, worked on my blog, and then we headed to bed as it was quite late.