Travel Review - Robben Island Tour in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa / Travel Experiences submitted by real travellers

Travel Review - Robben Island Tour

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ROBBEN ISLAND TOUR REVIEW
Submitted by: Caroline H. 24 July 2007
Summerstrand, Port Elizabeth
Robben Island Trip: Robben Island used to be used by the Dutch and the British colonial governments as a prison, and it’s most famous prisoner was Nelson Mandela. Mandela was exiled there by the apartheid government that held control of South Africa until not very long ago. All of the tour guides on Robben Island were once prisoners there.

Prisoners on Robben Island were separated within the walls of the prison in an effort to break the prisoners' spirits and keep them divided. "Bantus" (the name for the black South Africans) were kept separately from the "coloured" and Indian prisoners, given inferior rations (which really weren’t very generous to start with), and until the Red Cross intervened and gave them beds in the 1980s, everyone slept on roll out mats on the floor. The prisoners wore the same clothes all year long, no matter what the weather, and many suffered from the cold in the winter.

I was kind of put off by how unmoved my group was by all of the things our tour guide was telling us. Nobody really asked any good questions, and so I didn’t get as much information from the guide as I hoped. The tour is also done very quickly, and the prison is only the last third of the trip. First you are driven all over the island in a bus. While the tour itself could have been better for me, I still highly recommend the experience of going for anyone who comes to Cape Town.

One of my favorite sights was the sign that was welcoming everyone to the island. On the way back to the main land from the island there is also a really great view of Table Mountain.

I liked learning about the history, and the reason I wanted to go there was because it did have a very rich history. But I could have probably learned most of the trip from books. If you have ever been to Alcatraz in the U.S, this is a similar trip, but obviously it takes longer as it is an entire island, not just a prison. Also the history is more immediate than that of Alcatraz, so it has more of an impact.
Related Pages:
Robben Island (view info and photographs)
Table Mountain
Cape Town Attractions

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Travel Review - Robben Island Tour in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa / Travel Experiences submitted by real travellers

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