Kadz and Sazmo's Great Adventure! : Being proper tourists

Waterfront and Table Mountain

Having had a full on busy month in Botswana we arrived in Cape Town with only one plan for the first week, to visit Robben Island. Luckily it was a sunny day although quite windy which meant the ferry crossing was a little bumpy! Robben Island is situated 8km off the coast of Cape Town and before we arrived we didn't know much about it other than Nelson Mandela being imprisoned there. When we first arrived on the island we went on a bus tour which took us through residents houses which are still inhabited by ex guards and ex prisoners. We also saw a leper graveyard filled with hundreds of graves as they were housed on the island until 1930. At this point the lepers were removed and all the existing buildings were burnt. The only building that survived was the church , which is apparently one of the cheapest places to get married- for a measly R80 (£5.80).

Quarry and Cave where prisoners worked

Cape Town from Robben Island

We then visited the high security prison which was used for political prisoners while the medium security prison was used for the criminals! Our guide around the prison was an ex-political prisoner who spent 7 years on the island. For the main talk we sat in the cell in which he was imprisoned which meant he could describe exactly how life was, including how terribly the blacks were treated even compared to the coloured prisoners. The food rations were tiny and they were forced to wear shorts and a t-shirt with no shoes or jacket all year round. The treatment of one political prisoner was particularly interesting. Most people have heard of Mandela however we learned more about Robert Sobukwe. He spent many years on the island after leading protests against apartheid laws. The government feared that he was particularly influencial and so imprisoned him in solitary confinement. He was allowed no contact with anyone, even his guards, but was given plenty of tobacco to smoke in the hope that he would die from it. The fear the government had for him lead to the Sobukwe Clause, this meant they could keep him imprisoned for as long as they wanted and it applied only to him.
On the ferry back we froze our buts off sitting on the top deck although it was worth it for the view of Cape Town ahead of us and Robben Island retreating in the background.

Communal cell

Sobukwe's House

Our ex-political prisoner guide

The corner where Mandela hid his book from the guards

Mandela's cell

Maximum security prison

Prison and penguins on the same island?!

Penguins with their nests

Another opportunity arose for us to be tourists when we headed south to stay with friends. We visited Boulders Beach which is the home of a wild colony of African penguins, appropriately on International African Penguin Day. The weather was gorgeous and so we hung out on the beach after watching the penguins. We also visited the oldest vineyard in South Africa- Groot Constantia. We had a gorgeous lunch and sampled one of their wines.