Robben Island

A view of Robben Island from the top of Table Mountain.

Last month I visited Robben Island for the second time. For some reason, the first time I didn't write about it. Maybe that's because I try to avoid writing blog posts where I need to do any research or remember any historical facts. Or maybe it's because what was most memorable about that particular trip to Cape Town was that Mr. Deep and I got lost hiking up Table Mountain.

Table Mountain as seen from Robben Island January 2017. 

Table Mountain as seen from Robben Island January 2016.

Robben Island is located in Table Bay about nine miles off the coast of Cape Town. The island is most famously known as the home of the prison where Nelson Mandela was held for 18 of his 27 year sentence.  In addition to Mandela, numerous other political prisoners were kept on Robben, about 3000 in total. Actual criminals were also held there and political prisoners and criminals were housed together from 1961 until 1971. In the past, Robben Island was also home to a mental hospital and a leper colony. 

As an American I can't help but compare Robben Island to Alcatraz (I also frequently compare Cape Town to San Fransisco) but other than being islands and former prisons, the two are not very similar. 

• The boat ride out to Robben Island is longer than the one to Alcatraz.I think the boat ride to Robben takes at least 45 minutes each way depending on the boat that you take. 
• Robben is much larger than the tiny rock that is Alcatraz Island. Robben Island is over two miles long and nearly two miles wide. 
• There is a town on Robben Island. In the past the warders live there and these days some of the staff who work on the island live there. There used to be a school but it closed and so now any school age students who live on the island have a very long commute to school traveling to Cape Town by boat.

The tour includes a round trip boat ride from the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, a bus tour around the island and and a visit to the prison. The prison tour is led by a former political prisoner. 

Unfortunately, Derek, the ex-political prisoner who spoke to us, was repeatedly interrupted by a crying baby. At some points the baby was making so much noise while Derek was trying to speak that he lost his train of thought completely. All I kept thinking was it was a good thing that Mr. Deep was not on the tour with us because he would have gone bananas over the crying baby and the parents who thought it was a good idea to bring a small baby on this tour. 

Derek enjoying a moment free of baby screeching.

Mandela's cell. Number 5. 

While I love any excuse to pat myself on the back publicly for having read Mandela's book "A Long Walk to Freedom," I truly believe a trip to Robben Island has more impact for those who have read the book. The tour of the island and the prison provides and opportunity to see the quarry where Mandela and the others worked in the bright sun for years as well as Mandela's prison cell, and the garden where he buried his manuscript. 

One of the most unimaginable stories that is shared on the tour is that of Robert Sobukwe. Sobukwe was a freedom fighter and the founder of the Pan African Congress. The apartheid government was very afraid of Sobukwe. He was sentenced to three years in prison but after he served his sentence the government created a new law stating that the minister of justice could extend the sentence of any political prisoner as long as he wanted. So Sobukwe was sent to Robben Island for an additional six years. For those six years he lived alone far from the other prisoners and he was not allowed to speak with anyone.  

The quarry. Notice the pile of the rocks. Each rock was placed by a former prisoner when visiting the island as a free man. 

The garden

The cell block

"There is only one race. The human race."

-Robert Sobukwe

And I think to Myself What a Wonderful World

I was slightly hesitant to publish a blog post a few weeks ago that was comprised of more photos than words. However, I received a lot of positive feedback on the photos. And as Mr. Deep so delicately told me this morning, "sometimes people only want to look at photos and don't want to read all the bullshit." So I think a photo blog every now and then is o.k. 

Last month in Pilanesberg I took numerous pictures of a gorgeous sunset which prompted me to look back through my photos and find other beautiful sunset pics taken in Cape Town in October that I never shared. Then, I got so excited that I expanded my search to include some lovely photos of the South African daytime sky. Enjoy! 

The downtown Joburg skyline taken from the apartheid museum. You can see the green roller coaster at Gold Reef City amusement park "photobombing" the image. 

A heart shaped cloud outside the Regina Mundi church in Soweto. 

Clouds over FNB stadium in Soweto.

Sunset over the Atlantic. Camps Bay, Cape Town (and 2 following photos.)

Sunsets at Pilanesberg National Park, North West Province: 

Madikwe, North West Province.

Oaklands Country Manor, Free State Province.

Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls

If I had to describe our trip to Victoria Falls Zimbabwe in one word that word would be wet. Mr. Deep and I spent most of the trip in a soggy state.  It's a good thing that we had a four poster bed in our hotel room because the posters came in handy as we were constantly hanging up our clothes in an effort to dry them. We got so wet during the weekend that two pieces of electronic equipment became too wet to function. More on that later. 

Looking soggy

The day we arrived we walked to the falls from the hotel. This time of year the falls are very full and the spray was intense.  We were soaked by the time we returned to our hotel. 

The bridge between Zimbabwe and Zambia and water on our camera lens.

The next day, we went whitewater rafting on the Zambezi. Rafting is something that we both enjoy and we returned to the falls in large part to go rafting. Our guide's name was Gordon and in addition to Mr. Deep and me there were four male German tourists in our raft. The safety briefing included information about how to paddle as well as an overview of various commands that our guide would give us as we headed down river. The briefing also included information about what do if we fell out of the raft or if the raft flipped over. It is during safety briefings that one begins to wonder if rafting is a good idea. Fortunately our raft did not tip but we did see another raft flip. 

As rafting is a wet endeavor it is recommended that guests not bring phones or cameras on the trip. One person in our party, whose name rhymes with Kister Bleep did bring his phone because he thought it would be safe wrapped in a zip lock bag. The phone got wet and did not work for the rest of the trip (or ever.) Luckily, the rafting company provided a camera man who videotaped the event and took still photos. Gordon was also wearing a Go-Pro. For $55 Mr. Deep and I walked away with a thumb drive that included photos and a video of our rafting adventure. The next seven photos are courtesy of Shearwater, the company that we used for the rafting and all of our activities throughout the weekend.

Our crew. That's me in the back middle.

Maybe our raft didn't flip but we were submerged!

Mr. Deep is the rare mix between a rule follower who loves to be prepared for any situation and a rebellious teenager. The rebellious teen behaviour is evidenced by some of the still photos that we reviewed days later when we returned to Joburg. You can see that Mr. Deep did not follow instructions when told by Gordon to "get down." Instead, he thought it a good idea to stand up and smile for the camera. In one hundred years it would never occur to me NOT to follow the guide's instructions. Largely because I prefer not to die. I asked Mr. Deep if he did not think it was important to follow the safety commands and he said he did, but that he thought it was more important to get some really funny photos.  

At one point, the raft tipped in such a way that both Mr. Deep and I fell out (the German's remained intact.) I think this was likely the nail in the coffin for the phone as well.  Thankfully it was easy to grab on to rope on the side of the boat and we were pulled out quickly. The German guy who pulled me out said he couldn't wait to go home and tell everyone that he "rescued a woman who fell into the Zambezi."

The next day was Sunday and it was Mr. Deep's turn to try again (and for the last time) to catch a tiger fish.  I was still sleeping when the phone rang early in the morning. It was the fishing guide calling to say that it was raining and did Mr. Deep still want to go out? I assured him that he did and was already in the lobby waiting to go.

Mr. Deep said it was pouring with thunder and lightning when he and his guide left the hotel. Because of the weather at first they could only fish from shore. Eventually the lightning stopped and they were able to go out in the boat. Regardless of being completely drenched Mr. Deep had great success!

The guide was so excited about Mr. Deep's catch that on the way back to town they stopped to show the fish to the guide's brother and also to his boss. Mr. Deep gave the fish to the guide. 

Sunday afternoon the weather cleared up but Mr. Deep and I still found a way to get soaking wet while simultaneously pondering the fact that we might be insane. We swam (or more accurately sat) in Angel's Pool which is situated on the edge of Victoria Falls. And by pool I don't mean a relaxing swimming pool near the falls. I mean a pool of water that forms right before it cascades with massive force over the giant cliff that is Vic Falls. 

The rain made the water in the falls even stronger and higher than it had been the day before. If you're familiar with the falls you might wonder why we didn't swim in Devil's Pool which is the pool where this activity of risking your life normally takes place. It's because the water was too high and Devil's Pool was closed. 

For this adventure we had to cross the border from Zim into Zam. We had one driver take us to the border. Then, another driver met us, got our passports stamped and drove us across the bridge (same bridge as in the photo above) to Zam. We were then taken to the Royal Livingstone Hotel where we meet a third guide who took us and several others by a short (five minute) boat ride to Livingstone Island. Livingstone Island is a small island in the middle of the Zambezi just upstream from the falls. It is from this island that Dr. David Livingstone first viewed the falls and named them for Queen Victoria. 

While Angel's Pool sounds lovely and tranquil as compared to Devil's Pool, it was still quite a shock and a thrill to sit so close to the falls. By the way, of our group of eight, only three of us sat in Angel's Pool. The rest declined. 

Livingstone Island

Walking to Angel's Pool

The photos below were taken by our guide. He used our camera because at this point we were down to one working phone. As he was taking photos the guide told us our camera battery had died. But, when we returned to the hotel and put in a new battery the camera still would not work. Once back in Joburg I had to take the camera in for a dry out at the camera shop. Luckily the guide was able to take the photos below before the camera became too wet from all of the spray as there is NO POINT in sitting in Angel's Pool if it's not being captured on film!

I'm pretty sure here that I was whispering "what the F%&@ are we doing?" in Mr. Deep's ear.