Seen from the beach at Bloubergstrand, Robben Island is a low, flat smudge on Table Bay, with Table Mountain standing up behind it from the other side. It is one of the best known and most difficult places in South Africa to think about. For several centuries the island served as a place of exile and isolation, a prison for political opponents of the Dutch and British, a leper colony and a military base. Between 1961 and 1991 it held political prisoners of the apartheid state, including Nelson Mandela, who spent eighteen of his twenty-seven years in custody here.
Visitors reach the island only by ferry from the Nelson Mandela Gateway at Cape Town's V&A Waterfront, since no private boats or bikes are allowed, and the trip is organised as a guided tour led by former political prisoners or trained guides. The tour takes you through the maximum security prison, past the lime quarry where prisoners worked in blinding glare and the small cell where Mandela was held. It is sober, and many people say it changes the way they think about the country. UNESCO listed the island in 1999.
For riders the useful ground is on the mainland. The R27 coast road north from Cape Town runs along Table Bay, with long open views of the island, wide beaches that attract kitesurfers and, on clear days, Table Mountain at the far end of the bay. Traffic can be heavy in the morning and late afternoon, and the wind in summer, a strong south-easter, blows sand across the road and shakes light bikes. Early morning light on the water is the best time for photographs.
Bookings for the ferry usually need to be made well ahead, especially in the busy season from December to March, and boats can be cancelled when the sea is rough. Fuel and food are easy in Bloubergstrand and Cape Town, and the beachside cafés look straight at the island. If you only see it from the shore, it still tells you something. The island is also a nature reserve, home to African penguins and many seabirds.