HaveShoesWillEatandTravel: Robben Island

Buy your Robben Island tickets in advance! I'm not a last minute person by any means. In fact, I'm often over eager. But I was trying to be more laid back and waited until 6 weeks before we left on vacation to plan out what we wanted to do in Cape Town. There was one boat left with 2 tickets available for us to do the Robben Island tour. ONE. During the whole 4 days we were in town. In my opinion, this tour is a not to be missed experience and gives a great background as to the history of apartheid and the resulting racial tensions that are still in South Africa today.

First, you board a ferry boat to take you to Robben Island which is a couple miles offshore. The ferry boat is very nice. You can sit inside in the comfortable seats and air conditioning or sit outside on the top or stand along the deck.

Then you are loaded into busses. There, a guide drives you around the island, showing you different sections such as where the guards lived and explaining the history. We really lucked out and had the best guide ever. I know he was the best since he'd been the one to show Obama and other visiting dignitaries such as kings and queens around the island. And speaking of dignitaries, there are rooms and conference facilities on the island for them. Knowing the history of the island, and seeing how creepy it is now that it's deserted, I'd never want to stay on the island overnight!

The next stop is the actual prison facilities. There, we were transferred to another guide, all of whom had been political prisoners on Robben Island at some point. This part of the tour was just heartbreaking to hear about the conditions they lived in and how blacks versus coloreds were treated. White people weren't brought to the island at all. They had better prisons on the mainland.

Finally, the last part was a return on the ferry to Cape Town. The Robben Island tour was one of my favorite activities of the two weeks we were in South Africa and it's a definite do not miss.