Cape Town, SA

  • Cape Town, SA,  iMasTravel,  TRAVEL/HOLIDAYS

    Cape Town Day 2: A ‘ferry’ good trip to Robben Island

    me

    Me posing at Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town.

    Robben Island or Robbeneiland is derived from Dutch, meaning Seal Island, and for this reason, I was hoping to at least bump into a harem of seals (or a waddle of African penguins as featured in the flyer) when I decided to visit. Going for a trip to see seals, whales or penguins on a boat cost about R1,000 per person. Watching one of these animals costs about R500 per person. So, I took a rain check.

    My husband and I purchased tickets to Robben Island at the Nelson Mandela Gateway near the Clock Tower. Our tickets to Robben Island cost us R220 (that’s about RM100) per person at the Nelson Mandela Gateway near the Clock Tower. The price is for a standard tour (3.5 hours) provided by Robben Island Museum, and it includes:

    1. A return boat trip across Table Bay
    2. A visit to the infamous Maximum Security Prison
    3. Interaction with an ex-political prisoner
    4. A 45-minute bus ride with a guide providing commentary
    5. The opportunity to explore the Murray’s Bay Harbour precinct attractions such as the Muslim shrine or kramat, and the Museum Shop

    The Nelson Mandela Gateway was constructed to symbolize South Africa’s past and reflect how change in peoples attitude can shape a country.

    We took the earliest trip at 11 am (boarding was at 10:30 am).The queue to embark on the ferry was quite long and everybody had to pass through a scanning machine.

    A ferry named Sikhululekile, which means “we are free” in Xhosa

    Me eagerly waiting in line to board Sikhululekile.

    On the ferry, we took the upper seats for an easy access to the side deck for photography purposes. My husband said I could take photos, so I went to the deck and after 10 minutes, my face went cold and numb. I quickly returned to my seat, took out my knitted gloves, wore them and held my husband by his left arm. “This is why I prefer not to go outside,” he told me. “Yes very sweet of you to inform me,” I replied.

    View of Cape Town from the deck.

    The trip to Robbeneiland was about half an hour, and with nothing better to do, I observed other passengers. There in the right hand corner was a man seated with a family. I could tell that the man did not belong to the group by the look of his face. He looked Indian while the rest were maybe Zambian, Zimbabwean or local. On my right hand side, there was a man clad in long jacket (probably Burberry) busy doing something on his new iPad2. Wow, classy. He looked like a businessman. “So what is a businessman doing in Robbeneiland?” I thought to myself. Perhaps he had to ‘seal’ a deal. Haha.

    Outside on the deck, there was a mother and daughter busy taking pictures, a couple enjoying the cold breezy weather and three others happily snapping away with their DSLRs. While looking at them, I asked my husband, “What is the seating capacity of this ferry?” He replied, “Dunno. Maybe around 200 or 250 or 300?” “Wow. Ok we take the max 300, so R220 x 300 x 3 daily trips ..urm how much is that?” We did the math and it’s R198, 000 per day. They sure make loads of income from Robben Island tourism.

    You see, Robben Island is listed as one of the Big 6 in South Africa, and the promotions are big. There are flyers, brochures – not leaving behind websites as well as TV ads. Even the driver who fetched us the other day recommended Robben Island. Suddenly, Pulau Jerejak popped in my mind. If only it can be transformed into something like Robben Island. Hmmm.

    The ferry finally docked the Robben Island jetty at 11:30 am and pelagic birds seemed to usher our arrival. Lots of them.

    When we disembarked, a fleet of buses were already waiting for us, and off we went to the common prisons where our tour starts. Outside the prison, we met the tour guide, who was actually an ex-prisoner. He explained about the history of Robben Island as well as the prisons. He told us that at first, it was hard for him to come back to the prison. However he managed to overcome the feeling and began treating his job as therapy. It helped him to ease the burden by sharing stories about life in the prison.

    Robben Island is the largest of the islands along the coastline of South Africa. It is 507 hectares, roughly oval-shaped, and about 2 kilometres in length from north to south. From the 17th to the 20th centuries, Robben Island served as a place of banishment, isolation and imprisonment. Today it is a World Heritage Site and museum, a poignant reminder to the newly democratic South Africa of the price paid for freedom.

    In the common prison, we got to observe shared communal cells which can fit 50 to 60 people. Only a few of the bunk beds still remain in the cell for exhibition purposes. We were later taken to the kitchen, as well as the B-section courtyard. The prison tour ended at the maximum security section where high level political prisoners such as Nelson Mandela were kept in.

    Nelson Mandela’s cell was just behind the wall where my husband sat.

    After the prison tour, we were taken on a 45-minute bus tour. The bus took us to the limestone quarry where prisoners did hard labour, the lighthouse, the leper’s graveyard, the school, and the Moturu Kramat.

    Limestone quarry where Nelson Mandela worked for 13 years.

    This school still serves the island today – with children ranging from the ages six to 11 and four permanent teachers.

    Lighthouse on Minto Hill.

    This Kramat was built in 1969 to commemorate Sayed Adurohman Moturu, the Prince of Madura. Moturu, one of Cape Town’s first ‘imans’, was exiled to the island in the mid 1740s and died there in 1754.

    The shrine was the end of our tour. Overall, we had a good tour. Although the prison itself was not that intriguing, the history around the whole facility (particularly the part where Mandela was held there) was invaluable. Of course it would have been better if only I saw a penguin waddling along Murray Bay. But we did have a surprised bonus: African Black Oystercatchers. We got the opportunity to see this bird along Murray Bay while on the way back to the starting point.

    Listed as an endangered bird, the black oystercatcher has a population of less than 5,000 adults.

    Now, that’s what I call a blast. Seeing something unique about a place is always like having a cherry on top of ice-cream.

  • Cape Town, SA,  iMasTravel,  TRAVEL/HOLIDAYS

    Cape Town Day I: Getting familiar with the town

    Just when I thought my body was adapting well to the cold weather, the 5-day vacation was over. My blocked nose suddenly turns runny as I stepped down from the airplane. I was like an ice melting. Just few days ago when it was so windy and cold at Cape Town, I was praying for a warm weather. But now I am praying for a cold weather.

    Haha. But yeah, home sweet home; regardless what the temperature is.

    me at the reception counter

    The trip to Cape Town, South Africa was great. It was a vacation that my husband and I had been awaited for. Our little boy could not skip school, so, he was left under the care of his grandmother. We felt so guilty but my mother said, “go and enjoy!”

    Upon reaching Cape Town, we were fetched by a driver to the hotel where we were staying. The arrangement has all been made by MAS as part of the deal for winning the iMasTravel contest. Many thanks to MAS for the great prize and most importantly many thanks to the judges who gave me good scores not forgetting friends, relatives and bloggers for voting my blog entry for the contest which contributed to 30% of the total 100% scores.

    Day 1

    As we reached Cape Town early in the morning, we thought that it was a good idea to roam the cape as soon as possible and decided to walk to Victoria & Alfred Waterfront which is not far from the hotel. As my dear husband had made his homework few days before leaving KL, finding our way was like piece of cake. Clad in our jackets and a backpack each on our back, we walked hand in hand through the cool and breezy 14°C weather. From where the hotel is situated–Adderly Street, we walked past Thibault Square, Southern Sun hotel and City Lodge. From City Lodge, we could already see the waterfront.

    Great Southern Sun building

    Southern Sun is a hotel situated about 10 minutes walk from Victoria & Alfred Waterfront.

    Our first stop was at the red Clock Tower. Situated near the site of the original Bertie’s Landing Restaurant (now Dock’s Restaurant), the Victorian Gothic-style Clock Tower is an icon of the old docks and has become an important focal point in the waterfront’s recent urban design. This was the original Port Captain’s Office in 1882 and it was restored in 1997.

     

    clock tower

    With over 450 retail outlets selling everything, the V&A Waterfront is South Africa’s most popular shopping destination. Famous shopping outlets in this area include Alfred Mall, Victoria Wharf Center, Waterfront Craft Market, Cape Union Mart, African Trading Port and many more. As for food there are wide ranges from seafood, fast food, pizzas and halal food. Halal food can be found easily in Victoria Wharf’s food court.

    Victoria & Alfred Waterfront

    After walking around the waterfront, we took the Hop-On Hop-Off City Sightseeing Cape Town bus. We chose the Blue Mini Peninsula Tour which offers scenic drive around the Cape Peninsula with 13 stops including Kirstenbosch Gardens. We got down on stop 20 to explore the gardens.

    Kirstenbosch Gardens

    After Kirstenbosch, we waited for the tour bus, hopped back on the tour bus and continued with the sightseeing. The view was breathtaking.

    Views of the Cape Peninsula

    We took the bus until we reached city center and hopped down at the nearest stop to the hotel. It was almost 6pm and some of the shops were already closed for the day. Street traders were packing and ready to get home. I am not sure whether this is normal or just during the winter but when we went out again to find dinner at 7pm, the streets were all empty. The only shops opened were KFC and Texie’s. We settled for Texie’s fish and chips and calamari rice and walked back to the hotel.

    On Day 2, we visited Robben Island and Bo-Kaap. Will cover both in the next entry. I hope you enjoy my story so far. Here’s two sketches from the waterfront. Just got them scanned this morning.

    yacht

  • Cape Town, SA,  iMasTravel,  TRAVEL/HOLIDAYS

    Greetings from Cape Town

    Hello all! Just a quick update from South Africa!

    I am here in my room in Fountains Hotel, Cape Town. Reached the town at 7am in the morning yesterday. Walked around the town and visited Victoria & Albert Waterfront, it’s very beautiful. Took the HOHO bus and visited Kirstenbosch Garden as well.

    I will upload more pictures soon, the internet connection is quite slow here.

     

    waterfront

    me deciding what to eat

     

    Old oak tree

    That’s me under the old oak tree.