Robben Island Museum
Capetown
During peak tourism season, buy your tickets online, ahead of time, or head there early in the morning to beat the queues. You can always spend any extra time you have exploring everything that the Waterfront has to offer.
Robben Island is an island 12km out of Table Bay. Robben Island literally means 'island of seals.' The island has a rich history originally being inhabited by cavemen in a time when the sea level was lower and you could walk out to the island. It has since been used a s a way of separating people from the mainland, going from a Dutch prison to a leper colony up until the second world war when it was fortified and used to defend the mainland.
From 1959 right up to the mid 1990s it was used as a prison and housed over three thousand men who were held as political prisoners; its most famous resident being Nelson Mandela who was imprisoned for a total of 18 years here. The island is now a museum and World Heritage Site, and regular tours depart from the Nelson Mandela Gateway, located at the Old Clock Tower at the V&A Waterfront.
Many of the guides who will show you around the island were themselves once prisoners on the island, therefore offer you a fascinating insight into life on the island, the daily hardships they faced and their eventual triumph of the human spirit. The tour lasts three and a half hours and includes a return trip across Table Bay, a visit to the Maximum Security Prison, interaction with an ex-political prisoner and a 45 minute bus tour with a guide providing commentary.
Tickets are sold at R180 for adults and R90.00 for children aged 4-17 years. Booking tickets must be done early. Tours can be cancelled if the weather conditions will not allow a standard of safety. And if you really want to see Robben Island from a unique perspective, take a spectacular helicopter flight, departing from the V&A Waterfront.
