One Sunday, I went on a tour of Robben’s Island with the other American students that came to South Africa with the same study abroad program I did. The tour itself consisted of a bus ride around the island and then a tour through the actual prison.
The island itself has mostly been used as a prison since the Dutch settled in the area in the second half of the 1600s. In addition to this, during the 1800s and early 1900s it was used as a hospital and settlement for people with leprosy or were chronically ill. The island is most famous for being the place that Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison. It was also home to many other political prisoners during apartheid including Walter Sisulu, Robert Sobukwe and Jacob Zuma - the current president. The bus brought us past the limestone quarry where many of the political prisoners were forced to do labor. One of the fascinating parts of the quarry was the cave that was in one of the walls. The cave was used as a kind of school where prisoners continued their education and where many of the prisoners began writing many aspects of South Africa's current constitution. Our tour of the prison buildings was given by an ex-prisoner. Our tour guide, who had been a student during the 1970s was imprisoned for protesting during the Soweto Uprisings of the 1970s.
Some other facts:
Political prisoners were allowed one visit every six months and visitors had to speak in English or Afrikaans so guards could understand.
There is a graveyard where around 1,500 lepers are buried.
All political prisoners on Robben Island were either black, colored or of Indian descent. Depending on race, severity of crime and length of time spent in the prison, food, bedding, free time etc. was determined.
The tour itself was actually not that informative, but it was interesting enough. What was really nice was the boat ride out. On the way to the island we took a catamaran. I sat on the trampolines in between the hulls. It was great, until I realized that my shorts were soaking wet from the spray. Also, we saw some penguins swimming in front of the boat which was really cool to see.
Some of the prison buildings.
The quarry and cave. The pile of rocks is a memorial made by the prisoners.
This room is where prisoners would have slept.
The island from a distance.
Leaving Cape Town harbor.
It's a bummer that Mandela and the other prisoners didn't have one of these!!
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