Michael Klerck asked:
People often ask me why I keep my site going after so many years. I have had touching emails from many people around the world who were fascinated to discover that life on “the island” was for me quite normal. My parents married there in the Anglican church in the main street, now beautifully renovated, and I spent the first 5 years of my life there.
The island was first an army base, then a naval base, and eventually the marines took over before handing over to the prisons department. I have fond memories of walking the island with my nanny every day – she was a Xhosa woman and when we visited the now famous quarry where political prisoners eventually spent their days picking at rocks, we were greeted by the then hard laborers who could not resist a chat with a black women and a child. Nanny and I walked for miles each day – a visit to the farm, the lighthouse and nothing would stop us from looking across the bay at the famous Table Mountain.
I remember, so well, huge tortoises that swam back to the mainland. Often people have emailed me to say I must have remembered incorrectly – were they not turtles? Because I left when I was only five, I wondered whether, perhaps, I was wrong. I phoned a professor of zoology from University of Cape Town, and was delighted to discover that I had been right. The Mountain Leopard tortoise indeed was the culprit, and fishermen often loaded them on board their boats and brought them back to the island. They are the only tortoises in the world that have lungs large enough to swim. I remember my father riding one – he got off before it launched itself into the bay, of course.
Nelson Mandela is on record as describing Robben Island as a special place. And indeed it was; but for me for very different reasons, although I imagine that he has very fond memories, as well as the painful ones. He befriended prison warders and was a favourite among them, and his patience and lack of revenge resulted in a new democratic nation we now live in.
You can read more by visiting websites which also has many links to places to visit and see in and around Cape Town. If you do have the privilege of visiting the island, take a thought when looking across the bay at Table Mountain itself – its chain and floral kingdom is one of only seven in the world, with more species of flowers than the entire British Isles!
If you happen to end up in Cape Town be sure to stay a while. Rated as one of the three most beautiful cities in the world, I can certainly say that having been to handsome Vancouver and stayed in stunning Sydney, Cape Town is still the most beautiful. Few destinations in the world offer you the chance to experience two oceans; in October Southern Right whales return to fill our bays with their offspring and frolicking antics. We have the most famous botanical garden in the world, Kirstenbosch – an absolute must to come into contact with the world’s most diverse floral kingdom.
On your drive down to Cape Point, most tour buses stop in Simonstown – small, quaint and bristling with character, it was constructed almost entirely by the British navy and is a reminder of a typical English town. To the amazement of the locals, tens of thousands each year come from every country in the world to visit the smelly and noisy penguins that moved into the otherwise very private area called Boulders. The various drives around the peninsula are must-do outings in themselves, and there are no less than three large bays: Table Bay (cold water), False Bay (warm but still not Indian Ocean water) and Hout Bay with its fishing village and yacht basin.
We’re waiting for you. And so is Robben Island.
Caffeinated Content
People often ask me why I keep my site going after so many years. I have had touching emails from many people around the world who were fascinated to discover that life on “the island” was for me quite normal. My parents married there in the Anglican church in the main street, now beautifully renovated, and I spent the first 5 years of my life there.
The island was first an army base, then a naval base, and eventually the marines took over before handing over to the prisons department. I have fond memories of walking the island with my nanny every day – she was a Xhosa woman and when we visited the now famous quarry where political prisoners eventually spent their days picking at rocks, we were greeted by the then hard laborers who could not resist a chat with a black women and a child. Nanny and I walked for miles each day – a visit to the farm, the lighthouse and nothing would stop us from looking across the bay at the famous Table Mountain.
I remember, so well, huge tortoises that swam back to the mainland. Often people have emailed me to say I must have remembered incorrectly – were they not turtles? Because I left when I was only five, I wondered whether, perhaps, I was wrong. I phoned a professor of zoology from University of Cape Town, and was delighted to discover that I had been right. The Mountain Leopard tortoise indeed was the culprit, and fishermen often loaded them on board their boats and brought them back to the island. They are the only tortoises in the world that have lungs large enough to swim. I remember my father riding one – he got off before it launched itself into the bay, of course.
Nelson Mandela is on record as describing Robben Island as a special place. And indeed it was; but for me for very different reasons, although I imagine that he has very fond memories, as well as the painful ones. He befriended prison warders and was a favourite among them, and his patience and lack of revenge resulted in a new democratic nation we now live in.
You can read more by visiting websites which also has many links to places to visit and see in and around Cape Town. If you do have the privilege of visiting the island, take a thought when looking across the bay at Table Mountain itself – its chain and floral kingdom is one of only seven in the world, with more species of flowers than the entire British Isles!
If you happen to end up in Cape Town be sure to stay a while. Rated as one of the three most beautiful cities in the world, I can certainly say that having been to handsome Vancouver and stayed in stunning Sydney, Cape Town is still the most beautiful. Few destinations in the world offer you the chance to experience two oceans; in October Southern Right whales return to fill our bays with their offspring and frolicking antics. We have the most famous botanical garden in the world, Kirstenbosch – an absolute must to come into contact with the world’s most diverse floral kingdom.
On your drive down to Cape Point, most tour buses stop in Simonstown – small, quaint and bristling with character, it was constructed almost entirely by the British navy and is a reminder of a typical English town. To the amazement of the locals, tens of thousands each year come from every country in the world to visit the smelly and noisy penguins that moved into the otherwise very private area called Boulders. The various drives around the peninsula are must-do outings in themselves, and there are no less than three large bays: Table Bay (cold water), False Bay (warm but still not Indian Ocean water) and Hout Bay with its fishing village and yacht basin.
We’re waiting for you. And so is Robben Island.
Caffeinated Content