Robben Island and Table Mountain

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Well, the weather finally turned good on this, our last day in Cape Town, so we got up at 6am and belted down to the Waterfront for the first sailing to Robben Island. The taxi drivers all tell us that it should be like this all the time in November, and that global warming is to blame for the strange weather.

Robben Island, which is about 11 kilometres offshore and takes about 45 minutes to reach, is of course primarily famous for having been "home" to Nelson Mandela and numerous other political prisoners - nearly 700 at one time - during the apartheid years. It closed in 1991, and has been a museum and world heritage site for the last 10 years. Mandela spent 18 years here, from 1964 to 1982, before being moved to onshore prisons for the last eight years of his incarceration.

The guides at Robben Island are all former political prisoners themselves, and thus able to provide a fascinating insight into the bleak prison life, from the sublime (the prisoners uniting to campaign to be allowed to study, and eventually succeeding) to the ridiculous (the diet for black prisoners was different from, and worse than, that for coloured / asiatics). Our guide was imprisoned in the mid-80s for being a member of the ANC, for attending military training in Germany, and for crossing the south African border illegally. He was finally released when apartheid ended. We see the cell where Mandela was held - just a few square feet with mats for bedding in one corner ("proper" beds were only provided pretty late on in the prison's history, after the Red Cross intervened), and a bucket for a toilet in the other. Outside we see the exercise yard where hard labour - breaking stones - was the order of the day until the 70s.

Back on the mainland, in the afternoon we take a walk up Table Mountain. We take the Plettersklip Gorge route, which is supposed to be one of the easiest, but it's still uphill - and very often steeply uphill - the whole way. It takes about two hours to the top. It offers spectacular views down to the City Bowl and Table Bay, and out to Robben Island and the glistening blue sea beyond. The vegetation the whole way up is fynbos, a kind of green and yellow shrub (I think). As we reach the summit, the clouds start to descend, and we fear we won't be able to see anything, but thankfully the mists clear every now and again, and we can see for miles. If I could work out how to attach my camera to this computer, I would add a few photos to this blog... We take the cable car back down, which is a slightly easier ride than the way up.

We are leaving Cape Town first thing tomorrow morning, and have just got back from a "pre-departure" meeting for our trip to Windhoek. It's likely to be a good few days before I get to blog again, as we'll be out in the wilds - wish us luck...

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Photos

Table Mountain
Finally at the top

On the way up Table Mountain
The ascent

Comments

[French Mole]

Adventures
Sounds fantastic - glad the weather cleared - awaiting the next instalment - take care in the wilds.