Day Tours - Robben Island, Cape Town
Since 1997 Robben Island has been a museum acting as a focal point of South African heritage. Daily tours of about 4 hours long, including the two half-hour ferry rides are offered (weather permitting) from the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town. In 1999 the island was declared a World Heritage Site.
Much has been done to restore the Robben Island’s ecological haven to what it used to be centuries ago. In 1991 Robben Island was included in the SA natural heritage program and the northern parts of the island was declared a bird sanctuary. Buck, ostrich, and rabbits are also to be found on the island.
The main centre of Robben Island is located in a small village and mostly everything – from milk to building materials had to be ferried over from Cape Town Harbour. Robben Island generate it’s own electricity and obtains its water from nine boreholes.
Maximum Security Prison – one of the highlights and most sombre parts of the tour is a visit to the prison grounds, to learn more about the conditions in which prisoners where kept, and to see the Limestone Quarry where prison gangs were forced to work during their time on Robben Island.
Wildlife and bird life – the island is also famous for its rich abundance of natural heritage, with a number of animals and bird to be found, including wild rabbits and large colonies of penguin.
Daily tours to the island include the ferry trip there and back, an island tour and a tour of the prison with a fomer political prisoner as your guide. Allow three and a half hours for the trip (this includes the 1/2 hour ferry trip each way) and book in advance. Ferries leave at regular intervals throughout the day from the Clock Tower precint at the V&A Waterfront.
Robben Island tours are run exclusively by the Robben Island Museum. Tickets are obtainable at the Robben Island Museum situated at the Nelson Mandela Gateway, Clocktower Precinct, V&A Waterfront. Tel +27214134200.
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