A short ferry ride from Cape Town, Robben Island is where Nelson Mandela was a political prisoner. Mandela was on Robben Island for 18 out of his 27 years of imprisonment. The prison closed in 1991, and became a tourist destination in 1999. The tour guides in the prison are ex-political prisoners.
“While we will not forget the brutality of apartheid, we will not want Robben Island to be a monument of our hardship and suffering. We would want it to be a triumph of the human spirit against the forces of evil… a triumph of wisdom and largeness of spirit against small minds and pettiness… a triumph of courage and determination over human frailty and weakness.”
Ahmed Kathrada 1993
