Studying Abroad in South Africa: Robben Island

A little over two weeks ago (sorry I haven’t blogged in forever) my house went to Robben Island. Robben Island, for those of you who don’t know, is where Nelson Mandela and other anti-apartheid political leaders were jailed during Apartheid. Nelson Mandela himself spent 18 years in jail on Robben Island. So the people who signed up in my house and I went down to the waterfront where we got on a boat. The ride to Robben Island felt about 20 minutes long. A bunch of us sat downstairs and watched an informative video on the history Robben Island. Once we first arrived we all got on to large coach-like busses that took us on a tour. Every tour guide that works there spent some time in jail on Robben Island during Apartheid, which made it really interesting to hear the personal stories. After the bus tour we got off and walked around and inside the building where Nelson Mandela’s jail cell was located. Because I went to Robben Island a little while ago I forget all of the details. But one interesting thing that I learned was that there has pretty much never been a successful escape from Robben Island, so the jailed people were definitely trapped. Anyway, I’m going to put pictures on and just describe what they are showing because of my awful memory…

The ferry

Jail cells

The cave behind the mound on the left side of the picture was used as a bathroom for the inmates. They were able to utilize the privacy of the small cave to discuss ANC matters.

A beached whale?? We saw this on our boat tour, it smelled pretty badly.

Pictures of Robben Island.. Explained lower

An example of what a larger jail cell was like. The room was actually a lot bigger and was filled with more bunkbeds.

These pictures were used by the media and the pro-Apartheid South Africans to ensure outsiders that the prisoners at Robben Island were not experiencing an unbearably harsh life/ punishment.