Robin Island

For our last day in Cape Town, we went to Robin Island, which was probably the highlight of my whole trip. I had just finished reading Nelson Mandela’s biography right before I left for study abroad, so I was very anxious to see the jail in person. It was $20 total for the whole trip. We took a boat to the island and then we all got on a bus. The tour guide first took us to an old graveyard. In the 1840's and onward, lepers were isolated on the island. Family members would drop them off there, and they were housed in tiny cells. Mentally ill and blind people were also kept there. We then went to the prison area of the island. Our tour was led by an ex political prisoner during the time Nelson Mandela was there. He took us to his old jail cell, and then to Nelson Mandela's cell. It was a lot smaller than what I imagined it to be in the book. We also saw the old lime quarry where he worked all day crushing lime (for no reason at all - the lime served no purpose, it was just to demoralize the prisoners). It was so awesome to see that all after reading the book.




We also went out to eat at a restaurant called "Mama Africa" and Stephanie and I got our faces painted. We caught up on a little sleep, jumped on a plane, and made it back to Pietermaritzburg by 11am the next morning. The break was really wonderful overall, but it's nice to be back in my cozy bed again!