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For nearly 400 years, Robben Island,
12 kilometres from Cape Town, was a place of banishment, exile, isolation
and imprisonment.
It was here that rulers sent those
they regarded as political troublemakers, social outcasts and the unwanted
of society. |
| During the apartheid, the duty of
those who ran the Island and its prison was to isolate opponents of apartheid.
Some freedom fighters spent more
than a quarter of a century in prison for their beliefs.
Those imprisoned on the Island succeeded
on a psychological and political level in turning a prison into a symbol
of freedom and personal liberation. |
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Robben Island came to symbolize,
not only for South Africa and the African continent, but also for the entire
world, the triumph of the human spirit over enormous hardship and adversity.
The Robben Island Museum Tours Department
includes some ex-political prisoners who act as tour guides on Cape Town's
World Heritage Site. |
| Ferries depart seven days a week
at regular intervals throughout the day, weather permitting.
The standard tour is presently 3
and a half hours long, including the two half-hour ferry trips there and
back, which gives you a chance to see some sea life.
Robben Island also has a thriving
natural environment with many species of birds and animals. |
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.zama@robben-island.org.za
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