Laundry day
Water carried in, and clothes bucket washed
A typical cell for most political prisoners during this period
Nelson Mandela was a high security risk and had his own cell and was not permitted to be with the general population.
A little store in Cape Flats
The Dutch built a prison on Robben Island in 1652. It remained a prison until 1846, when it began housing mental and leprosy patients. In 1960, the white apartheid government turned Robben Island into a maximum-security prison for black political prisoners. It closed in 1991 and became a museum in 1997.
As a lawyer in South Africa, Nelson Mandela began a long battle against apartheid. After being harassed and physically beaten for years, he was sentenced to life in prison. He spent twenty-seven years behind bars, eighteen of them on Robben Island. Upon his release in 1991, he continued to fight for the rights of black South Africans and was elected president of the country in 1994. A truly remarkable man and a hero to many around the world.
Robben Island is now an island museum just off the coast of Cape Town. With reservations and tickets, there are ferries from the port to the island all day. Get your reservations days or weeks ahead.
Was not a nice place