A centuries old prison history
Here, you will find a living memory of the Apartheid era: this was the place where those who opposed the segregation regime were incarcerated. One of the prison’s most famous inmates was Nelson Mandela, who was imprisoned here for 18 years for leading the fight against Apartheid. However, Robben Island history of horror goes back all the way to the 17th and 18th centuries, when both the Dutch and the British transformed this island into a military base and a place to imprison sick people and those excluded from society.
During your journey you will explore museums, discover the stories that are kept in the archives, and visit churches, a school for the inmates’ children, the lepers’ cemetery, the stone quarry, the Guest House and the maximum security prison. You can also visit Nelson Mandela’s prison cell. All local tourist guides are former inmates and political prisoners.
The horror is over since 1996 and today the island is inhabited by roughly 132 bird species, including an African penguin colony, great cormorants, grey herons, whales and turtles.