South Africa Cultural Safaris: Exploring Robben Island, Cape Town

Article Written By: AndrewMuigai

In the recent past, Robben Island has undergone a great change from a place for banishment and imprisonment, to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Situated 12 km from Cape Town in the West Cape Province, the island was for more than three centuries used by rulers as an incarceration center for political prisoners. Many political and human rights activists were brought here in an attempt to thwart their quest for freedom. In addition to being used as prison, Robben Island was also used as a military base in World War II (1939-1945) and a hospital for socially unacceptable groups such as lepers, outcasts and the chronically ill (1846-1931).

Though Robben Island has existed for long, it gained international fame in the late 20th century, during the apartheid era. The apartheid years saw the imprisonment of such South Africa freedom fighters as Nelson Mandela, and Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe (a founding leader of Pan Africanist Congress). Mandela was in this 6 sq km island for 27 years while serving a life imprisonment sentence passed on him in 1963. Political prisoners in Robben Island were often jailed together with common-law prisoners, and the only contact they had with the outside world was limited to two letters a year. After the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990, the remaining political detainees were set free in 1991. In 1996, the common law prisoners were also transferred to the South Africa mainland.

In 1997, the island was changed into a museum, the Robben Island Museum, which is today a cornerstone of South Africa's heritage. By running educational programs for schools and other visitors, and facilitating more research about the island, the museum promotes tourism development and archives South Africa historical information. In 1999, UNESCO declared Robben Island as a World Heritage Site. In addition to Robben Island, South Africa boasts seven other world heritage sites. These include Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai and surroundings that yielded the famous Taung Skull Fossil ? from the hominid Austalopithecus africanus ? in 1924. The area is often called the ?cradle of humanity?. The elevation of the Robben Island to a world heritage site status, according to UNESCO, symbolizes the triumph of the human spirit, of freedom, and of democracy over oppression.

Robben Island supports some of the world?s most important breeding colonies of Bank Cormorants, Crowned Cormorants and Hartlaub's Gulls. It further supports a growing population of African Black Oystercatchers, representing approximately 5 per cent of the global population of the species. Robben Island Museum is reached via ferries. All ferries depart from Nelson Mandela Gateway, at the Vandamp;A Waterfront in Cape Town. Once on the Island, visitors are shown around the former prison whose tours depicts the lives of political prisoners detained from 1960?s to 1990. Former Robben Island prisoners conduct the prison tours. Ferries depart from Nelson Mandela Gateway daily at 9am, 10am, 12pm, 1pm and 3pm. The standard tour to Robben Island is three and a half hours long, including the two half-hour ferry rides.

About the Author

Andrew Muigai is the MD of Africapoint.com, a travel agency that provides South Africa Travel services and South Africa Hotel reservations among other Africa travel services.

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