MY SOUTH AFRICA ADVENTURE - DAY 7 (Monday, June 16, 2014) Today is a Public Holiday. June 16th is Youth Day which commemorates the Soweto Uprising in 1976. Youth Day marks the sacrifices made by the youth to help abolish The Apartheid regime. Lets get started with the information that Frank shared with us on yesterday about The Cape. The population is 4.5 million. There are 3 universities in The Cape. The University of Cape Town is rated 16 in the world, and is also the best university in Africa. The University of Cape Town is also known for their medical school. We took the Sea Princess ferry over to Robben Island. In this particular day the sea was rough and at one point we thought they would cancel the tour as they’d done the 2 days before. They didn’t cancel due to bad weather but it seemed I felt each wave. A number of people got sea sick. I took this chance to sleep. Actually the movement and constant rocking of the boat made me sleepy instead of sick. Robben means seal. Robben Island is where a lot of the political prisoners were incarcerated from 1964 - 1991, including Nelson Mandela. He was held here for 18 of the 27 years he was incarcerated. The political prisoners were forced to build their own prison, and a lot of time had to break down the stones to do so from the boulders. There were prisoners as young as 16. We were taken on a bus drive thru the island. The island is 13 square kilometers and would take about 2 hours to walk the entire island. We heard from one of the former prisoners, Vusumzi Mcongo, who served 12 of his 15 year prison sentence from 1978-1990. He lives on Robben Island as a free man and is involved with the tours. He wants everyone to have first-hand knowledge from someone who was actually there. The details that Vusumzi shared were heartbreaking and held everyone spell-bound. The 3,000 prisoners endured very harsh conditions, and for him to have survived to tell of the experience was amazing. We also saw Mandela’s prison cell. It was a powerful experience knowing he spent part of his life in such tiny, cramp space with awful conditions. Escape from the island was nearly impossible due to being completely surrounded by shark infested waters. After our tour we took the ferry ride back to the mainland. For lunch we went to a restaurant in Camps Bay, which is an affluent section of Cape Town. The food was delicious and the view of the ocean while we ate was awesome. Parts of Camps Bay reminded you of South Beach in Miami but I thought it was more beautiful. Frank mentioned it is quite the hot spot of nightlife activities in Cape Town and the clubs come to life at night. Frank took us on a tour of the mountains that overlooked the ocean. It was simply beautiful and I dont think the pictures I took do it justice. The first 6 photos were taken on Robben Island. The first picture is one of the houses the prisoners had to build by hand. The other pictures showing the rocky seashore is how the waters around the island looks – all rocky and shark infested. I’m also showing a picture of Mandela’s prison cell and a part of the cramp courtyard where the prisoners went on occasion to clean the gray stones on the side of the building. The picture taken of me in the red cape is with Vusumzi Mcongo, who served 12 of his 15 year prison sentence from 1978-1990. I will post the pictures of Camps Bay and the view of Cape Town from the mountains separately.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 16:00:01 +0000
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