Tourist First: South Africa: Robben Island

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

South Africa: Robben Island

Our trip to Africa began with wanting to see animals. We quickly realized that we could easily add Cape Town and its wine region, and that put Robben Island within reach. It's a 45-minute boat ride from the extremely busy and touristy Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. What was once a prison island where Nelson Mandela spent most of his years as a political prisoner is now a monument to what South Africa endured during the apartheid years and how it moved beyond them. The prison years are not so long ago. Former political prisoners serve as guides during walking tours of the prison buildings. A visit here is essential to understanding just how brutal things were during the more than four decades of apartheid.

An earlier posting describes our entire six weeks in Africa and has links to all the places we stayed. Keep scrolling and hitting "older posts" to find it, or simply click HERE.

Robben Island was a leper colony before it was a prison. The
tour starts with a bus ride around the island to see the community
where guards and their families lived along with former
military installations.

At a reunion of former prisoners during Nelson Mandela's presidency, he picked up a rock
at the stone yard where prisoners worked breaking rocks into gravel and moved it to an
open space. Other prisoners added one stone each, resulting in this pile.

The prison compound still looks like a prison.

A former political prisoner speaks to tourists during a tour of the prison buildings.

Mandela's cell.

A walkway between cell blocks.

Many cells are open for visitors to enter, each
with a photo of a former occupant and the date
of his internment.

Prisoners were asked to write something about their time
at Robben Island, This was Tokyo Sexwale's story.

A former prisoner wrote about how prisoners overcame their anger and desire for
revenge. One of the slogans used in marketing Robben Island as a museum is "The
Triumph of the Human Spirit." This story explains what that means.

A watchtower with no one to watch.

This large barracks-like room is the last place on the tour. Visitors then take the same walk
that Mandela once took, from the prison to the pier for the boat to Cape Town.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Argentine Patagonia

They are called what they look like: Mexican hats. They occur naturally in the highlands above the town of El Calafate. The water in the distance is glacier-fed Lago Argentino. An hour's drive east of El Calafate, near the headwaters of the lake, visitors can hike on the Perito Moreno glacier and take a boat ride among icebergs that have fallen off the several glaciers in the Parque Nacional des Glaciares. El Calafate is basically a summer (Nov. to Feb.) tourist town, and there are a number of hotels at all price points. We stayed at Esplendor El Calafate, a very stylish hotel with a full restaurant and bar. The South American picker-upper drink mate is available at breakfast. The hotel is an uphill walk from the commercial area, but that's not much of a drawback. Click on the photo to visit the Esplendor online.

Dominica

Probably the greenest island in the Caribbean, in terms of color and ecological awareness, is Dominica, just north of Martinique. It was named by Columbus, who sailed past it on a Sunday. The island nation is one of the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, but it is rich in friendly people and natural attractions, including a boiling lake, hot and cold waterfalls, a parrot jungle and hill after hill of dense green jungle. There is also a cable-car ride through the jungle canopy (http://www.natureisland.com/AerialTram.html). I wrote about Dominica years ago, and much of that article is still relevant: http://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/26/travel/winter-in-the-sun-an-island-where-less-is-more.html?scp=2&sq= Unfortunately, one of the hotels I mentioned, Petit Coulibri, has since closed. Fortunately, there's still a wonderful eco-resort called Papillote Wilderness Retreat http://www.papillote.dm/), four acres of lush gardens, hot-spring-heated soaking pools and modest cottage rooms.

Palm Springs

Palm Springs, Calif., is a great destination for nature lovers -- Mount San Jacinto State Park is a wonderful gondola ride (shown above -- click on it to visit its website) away, and Joshua Tree National Park is a short drive away. It's also a great destination for naturists; there are several major clothing optional resorts in the area -- and for fans of Mid-Century Modern architecture. For a dose of mid-century style, stay at the Orbit In (http://www.orbitin.com/), which does ask that you keep your clothes on.

Pompeii

If you're driving from Naples to the Amalfi Coast, and it's hard to imagine anyone who wouldn't want to visit the Amalfi Coast, you should plan to spend a night in the modern city of Pompei, adjacent to the ancient city of Pompeii. Above are the murals depicting an unknown ritual in what's called the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii. If you can, devote most of a full day to exploring the site. Afterward, you'll want a good hotel. Click on the image for info about Hotel Amleto, a small and friendly hotel in the heart of the new town and an easy walk from the ruins.

St. Vincent

This is one of the "rooms" at Petit Byahaut, an isolated (access by boat only) eco-resort on St. Vincent, the largest island in the country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Bequia, mentioned above in this column, is one of the Grenadines. The photo above is of the living deck and doesn't show a relatively enclosed area that had a real bed. Did you notice I said "had"? That's because the place has closed. To read about the property in its heyday, click on the image for a New York Times article I wrote. The article has a link to a slide show with more images of the resort.