Cape Town Tour 2009 – Robben Island
Filip Kozlowski (IGCSE)
As planned, on Saturday 21st February, we were going to visit the famous UNESCO World Heritage site, Robben Island. It was here that South Africa’s former president Nelson Mandela spent 18 years as a prisoner.
Before I arrived at Robben Island, I imagined the island being very built up with buildings used for storing prisoners everywhere. As I neared the shore on the boat transporting me and other people, I noticed that there were quite a lot of buildings. When we got off, we were welcomed to the island by a foul smell of seaweed and birds’ droppings, not to mention the blazing sun. Courtney House was not the only group of people visiting Robben Island at the time. For nearly 5 minutes we were being organised into grade lines by the four teachers. It felt like forever with the extreme conditions mentioned above.
Eventually the teachers managed to organise us and we began proceeding to the place where we would begin our tour. The AS1 students, however, went on a different tour and joined back up to us at the departure time which was 16h00. We made our way to Section D of the prison cells. During the entire 2-3 hour tour we had two tour guides. Wiseman led us through the prison cells and told us about the prison life on Robben Island. He knew a lot about this as he was one of the prisoners.
Prison life was not as bad as we think it was. However, it was a bit uncomfortable. Prisoners were divided by race and nationality e.g. black people, Indians, white people, Angolans, Nigerians etc. The food that the white people, for instance, ate was different and often more than what the blacks or Indians ate. People of the same race and nationality were put together in large rooms or were in individual cells. Each small cell was roughly 2m x 2m big with a little window guarded by bars. Prisoners had to sleep on tiny “rugs” placed on the cold, hard floor. If they were lucky, some cells had a little sink and even a small bedside table.
Outside each single cell was an indicator telling the wardens if the prisoner was sick. All he had to do was push a button and a light lit up outside the cell. Nelson Mandela’s cell was well furnished and open while all the others were closed and empty. It had a few photo frames, a colourful rug and more decorations. At the end of the prison tour, Wiseman took us to the bathrooms. This was a large room in which the toilet cubicles were not separated by walls. The reason for this was that prisoners had no freedom. This didn’t mean that they had no free time. In their spare time they played soccer on a gravel field and other games. The prisoners formed a soccer league called the Makana Football Association in 1966.
After Wiseman’s very informative overview of the prisoners’ living quarters, the group headed for a bus which would take us around Robben Island. Our tour guide was another ex-prisoner on Robben Island. In the bus we drove around the island stopping for short moments at important locations. The island is inhabited by a small number of people. There is even a small school in which there are about 23 students and two teachers. Other than that, there is a church, a leper graveyard and The Morturu Kramat. We also stopped at the small and isolated home of Robert Sobukwe. He was beaten and tortured, and if he tried to escape, he would have been found by trained police dogs. Even if he managed to escape from the island, he would not be able to swim 8km to Cape Town. Only one person managed to do this but he stole a boat from the island. Eventually Sobukwe died, the reason for his death is not exactly known, however, it is said to be of disease or injuries sustained during the beating.
We also stopped for a moment to observe Table Mountain. The view was spectacular. The guide told us that if you look closely, you might notice that the mountain looks similar to a person lying on their back. To me it looked like a man, but it was really hard to say. Robben Island is also home to a variety of flora and fauna. Rabbits are very common. I counted a few and one dried up snake, which live there as well.
As we got off the bus, we were given marching orders to walk along a short but extraordinary scenic route. At the halfway point in the route, was a lookout point from were you could see lots of penguins, which are also very common in the vicinity of Robben Island. Apparently the size of the colony is 13000 penguins. The only disadvantage of going on the route was the sun, burning our necks and bodies.
Well, the end of our Robben Island visit comes to an end. But before we boarded the boat, there was a gift shop in which you could buy some souvenirs. In the end, it was very educational and fun at the same time. I look forward to coming back there some time soon.
Other Extra-Curricular Activities
- Extra-Murals
- Tour & Camp Photograph Galleries
- Drums & Dreams - 2008 School Concert
