Robben Island Visit

M

Mr Apartheid Puppet

I've been meaning the blog about the places we've visited when we haven't been working but truth be told, the whole flight cancellation thing has left me a little flat. Over the last 4 days we've been working the phones and surfing online with regards to alternate means to get back to London but this Icelandic ash business seems to only be worsening. Anyway, I decided that I should make it a point to record the amazing experiences we have encountered - the township of Guguletu (meaning 'Our Pride'), the gardens at Kirstenboch, the views around Chapman's Peak and Noordhoek, as well as of course the famous landmark Table Mountain. But these experiences really deserve their own blog entry so I shall take my time...

I thought it befitting to start with Robben Island; the first 'touristy' place we visited on one of our days off. This is of course where political prisoners were kept. Nelson Mandela spent 27 years here. To get to the island, you have to buy tickets in advance at the Mandela Gateway at the V&A Waterfront. The centre also doubles as a museum. There is a message on one of the walls, which begins... "While we will not forget the brutality of apartheid..." (see picture below). Very inspiring, no?

Display panels at the museum

The queue for the ferry begins to grow, half hour before departure

Shivaun and Maggie get ready to board

A tourist shop on Robben Island, the lettering above the display racks echo the theme of the site

The entrance reads: "We serve with pride." 

...I wonder if this is for the benefit of the guards or the prisoners? I wonder whether the deception is akin to that of the 'Arbeit Macht Freit' (Work will set you free) signs posted above ghetto gates by the Nazis?

It's all very rush rush. We are hustled on to buses lined up in rows with optimistic mottos on them, such as this one below. Another reads "We are on this journey together." Lots of double entendre here.

Above: This is the entrance to the main prison block.

The bus takes us around the island, but we are not allowed off. The guide talks almost non-stop. I wish they would let us off the bus. And I wished the guide would stop talking. It's hard to immerse yourself or attempt to feel or read what this place speaks of when all one can hear is the roar of the bus and the constant narrative - which most of the time is peppered with irreverent humour - it's all strangely incongruous within this setting.

Finally, we reach the main prison buildings. They let us off and we are handed over to another guide. He tells us he was imprisoned here. He asks us to follow him and we do, from one cell to another, one corridor leading into the next, one courtyard opening into another, and he gives us a 10 minute talk in a large cell. He rushes and checks the time, another group is due to arrive after us. So he makes his way to a gate, opens it, and we re-emerge where we began. He walks briskly away - probably to get ready for the next busload of curious tourists.