Robben Island, South Africa

Robben Island: What the Tour Actually Involves

Robben Island sits 11km off Cape Town in Table Bay. It served as a prison from the 17th century through the late 20th century, and as a maximum-security political prison during apartheid from 1964 to 1991. Nelson Mandela was imprisoned there for 18 of his 27 years in captivity. The island is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and museum, and the tour of the prison is conducted by former political prisoners - men who were themselves incarcerated there.

That last fact changes the visit fundamentally. When your guide shows you the isolation cell where he spent weeks, or describes what the limestone quarry labour involved, it is a first-person account. The interpretive distance that characterises most museum visits is absent. It is not a comfortable experience.

Booking and getting there

Ferries depart from the V&A Waterfront’s Nelson Mandela Gateway. The boat crossing takes about 30-35 minutes each way. Adult tickets cost around ZAR 750 (2024 pricing), which includes the ferry, bus tour of the island, and the prison tour. Book well ahead: tours sell out days in advance during Cape Town’s peak season (November-February). Online booking at robben-island.org.za is the most reliable method.

Allow approximately 3.5 hours total. The ferry, the bus tour around the island (passing the former leper colony, the slate quarry, the World War II gun emplacements), and the prison tour each take roughly an hour. Time slots run from around 09:00, 11:00, and 13:00 - morning tours have the calmest seas.

The prison tour

The guided section inside the Maximum Security Prison covers the cell block where Mandela and other prisoners were held. Mandela’s cell has been preserved: 2.1 x 2.4 metres, a sleeping mat, a bucket. The guides explain the prisoner classification system (political prisoners had fewer rights than common criminal inmates initially), the diet, the forced labour, and the clandestine education programmes prisoners organised for themselves.

The quarry where prisoners worked - crushing limestone under the open sky with no eye protection, causing long-term vision damage for many - is a short bus ride from the prison. Mandela planted a tree there during a visit after his release; it has grown substantially.

The rest of the island

Robben Island has African penguins, springbok, and various seabird colonies. The natural history is secondary to the historical narrative but present. The lighthouse on the island’s southern tip was built in 1864. The colony of fallow deer introduced by the Dutch East India Company in the 17th century still roams the interior.

In Cape Town before and after

The Apartheid Museum is in Johannesburg, not Cape Town, but the District Six Museum on Buitenkant Street in Cape Town covers the forced removals of the 1960s-1970s when the District Six neighbourhood was demolished and 60,000 people were displaced. Entry costs around ZAR 85. It is an essential complement to the Robben Island visit if you want context for how the apartheid system operated beyond political imprisonment.

For food after returning to the Waterfront, the V&A Waterfront has hundreds of options at all price points. The Bungalow in Clifton and The Test Kitchen in the Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock are two of Cape Town’s most booked restaurants - the latter requires reservations weeks ahead.