Sunday, 12 January 2008

This is a picture of Robben Island, one of her many stops for today. I particularly like this picture because it shows Cape Town and Table Mountain in the background.

Nelson Mandela spent 27 years of his life here as a political prisoner in a tiny cell. Mandela himself describes his 27 years on Robben Island very impressively in his autobiography "Long Walk to Freedom". I personally have not read his autobiography, but I have read 'snippets' of it.

Here's an excerpt from one of the many internet sites I came across:

"For nearly 400 years, Robben Island, about 12 kilometres from Cape Town, was a place of exile and imprisonment where rulers sent those they regarded as outcasts and troublemakers. Since 1997 Robben Island has been a museum acting as a focal point of South African heritage. Daily tours of about 4 hours long, including the two half-hour ferry rides are offered (weather permitting) from the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town. In 1999 the island was declared a World Heritage Site. During the apartheid years Robben Island was used to isolate opponents of apartheid and to crush their morale. Freedom fighters, like Nelson Mandela, spent more than a quarter of a century in prison for their beliefs". Here's an interesing link: http://africanhistory.about.com/od/apartheid/p/RobbenIsland.htm

Also on her agenda today were visits to Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Castle of Good Hope, and Houses of Parliament .

http://www.sanbi.org/frames/kirstfram.htm; http://www.places.co.za/html/ct_castle.html; http://www.sa-venues.com/attractionswc/parliament.htm;

Believe it or not all of the above was suppose to happen during the day and they have their evening free! They must be moving around at the speed of sound, light, or something!