Cape Town - Take Two!
Double dipping in Cape Town...sort of. I mean I came back to tick a few more things off the requisite list of activities one should do here, such as visit the notorious Robben Island Prison where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for the majority of his 27-year sentence as well as hike up Table Mountain (1084m).
April 9 (Monday) - Robben Island
It is advisable to book ahead a ticket to Robben Island for it is a popular tourist attraction and the number of visitors is limited according to space on the boats which do the crossing four times daily (at 9, 11, 1 and 3). Tickets are a bit hefty at 230 rand but this maximum security island prison looms so large in the history not only of Cape Town but South Africa as a nation that the high price tag is rather a moot point.
It takes about a half hour to reach the island but the time flew for me as I got to talking to a friendly couple from Johannesburg named Calvin and Josina who grew up in the townships there. The couple happened to be in town for the annual Two Oceans Marathon over Easter Day weekend and I was incredibly impressed when they rattled off a few personal statistics for me on the number of marathons they've completed as well as their best running times. Anyway, meeting Calvin and Josina turned out to be the highlight of my visit to the prison and by the end of the afternoon we had exchanged emails and agreed to get together once I reach Johannesburg in May. Sweet!
But what about the prison?!? Well, like Alcatraz, it was pretty much impossible to escape from there as it is nearly 7km west of the coast of Cape Town and the chilly water contains a few unfriendly predators (Great White Shark Alert!!). The island was used to imprison mostly political prisoners but it also served as a refuge for a leper colony for a period of time in the 19th century. Our tour guide was a former prisoner who unfortunately spoke with a heavy accent making it considerably difficult to follow his commentary. Calvin also said that he was attempting to copy the oratory style of Mr. Mandela but failing miserably.
We were shown the maximum security block where the leading anti-apartheid political activists were detained but were only given a scant 5 minutes to shuffle past Mandela's cell and take pictures. It felt disquietingly like being part of a stampeding herd. Sigh. These leaders were kept segregated from the other prisoners for the vast majority of time but clandestine interaction still took place, firstly, on Sundays when they all attended church together and secondly, at the nearby limestone rock quarry. There was a cave in the quarry which was used as a storage shed (or toilet according to my guide) and it was here that leaders like Mandela would conduct classes on various topics such as history, language and current events. When Nelson Mandela returned to the prison and this quarry in particular after being elected President in 1994, he picked up a stone and placed it in the middle of the quarry. All the other ex-prisoners in attendance that day followed suit and this pile of stones remains today as a memorial.
Although I had never heard of him prior to visiting Robben Island, Robert Sobukwe, the founder of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), was also interned there from 1963-1969. However, he was kept in solitary confinement in a separate building altogether as he was deemed by the Apartheid government as the most politically dangerous inmate to be incarcerated there. Perhaps his relatively low status abroad is due to the fact that he was a PAC member and not affiliated with Mandela's African National Congress (ANC), which has been the governing political party in post-apartheid South Africa since 1994. Food for thought, hmmm?
The boat ride back to the mainland was decidedly unpleasant due to the significant swell that rocked the boat to and fro, resulting in seasick passengers queuing up for the toilets in order to purge anything left undigested from lunch. I too felt quite sick but thankfully it never got so bad that I needed to upchuck. TMI? Sorry!
April 11 (Wednesday) - Table Mountain
There are a lot of weather factors that can prevent one from successfully tackling Table Mountain. In addition to rain, there are strong winds which routinely shut down the cable car that transports the majority of tourists to/from the top as well as low-lying clouds which suddenly can form around the mountain obscuring the glorious views from the top.
I patiently waited until the weather conditions were absolutely perfect for me to hike up to the top via the most accessible route (the Platteklip Gorge) and then descend using the cable car (100 rand one-way), deservedly giving my knees a break in the process. It can take +/- 2 hours to walk up and I was proud to manage the ascent in 1 hour and 40 minutes, thank you very much (to be muttered in a deep Elvis Presley voice). Once up there, I joined the throngs gathered at each of the various lookout points in order to get snap-happy with the dassie, aka rock hyrax, cute little critters which crawl amongst the rocks, especially near the upper cable car station. The dassie resembles a large guinea pig (Cuyes son delicious!?! No para mi!), but is actually most closely related to the modern-day elephant. This animal planet factoid is brought to you on behalf of Wikipedia.
After cabling down to the parking lot, I began walking the rest of the way down to my accommodation (another hearty shoutout to Amber Tree Lodge, woo hoo!), but I realized pretty much straightaway that I had idiotically chosen to wear inappropriate socks. That is, they were much too short for my hiking boots. As a result, the skin on the heel of my right foot was continuously rubbing up against my boot. If ever I deserved to suffer the slings and arrows of a blister, it was then! Heed my Shakespearian words and dress accordingly yee hikers!
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