To limit access to the delicate ecosystem of the island, only tour groups organized by the Department of Arts, which manages the Robben Island Museum (encompassing the entire island), are allowed to land on the island, declared a World Heritage Site in 1999. Visitors are transported via the Makana or the Autshumato, luxury high-speed catamarans that take approximately 25 minutes. (The views of Table Mountain and Cape Town as you pull out of the harbor are fantastic -- don't forget your camera.) The 45-minute bus tours of the island provide passing glimpses of the lepers' church and graveyard; PAC leader Robert Sobukwe's house, where he was imprisoned; the "warden's village," a charming collection of houses and a school; the lighthouse; World War II fortifications; Robben Island's wildlife (a variety of antelopes, ostriches, and African penguins); and the lime quarry, worked by political prisoners (take sunglasses -- the brightness ruined many inmates' and wardens' eyes). The tour's highlight is the prison, where you can view the tiny cell in which Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years of imprisonment. To make the experience even more poignant, an ex-political prisoner conducts this part of the tour, giving a firsthand account of what it was like to live here. Tours take 3 1/2 hours (including boat trip) and can feel very restricted -- to get a real feel for the village (not to mention the most spectacular sunset view of Table Mountain), it's worth trying to arrange a night in one of the old wardens' cottages: A fascinating counterpoint to the more publicized prison, the village seems stuck in time, its deserted streets and low fences conjuring up a nostalgic vision of the 1950s. You can make inquiries through Rabia (tel. 021/409-5182); preference is given to groups or people doing research or engaged in some artistic endeavor. Don't expect any luxuries, and take your own picnic hamper with bottled water. Rabia can also organize special tours on request. Island of Tears -- The remarkably varied history of Robben Island goes back some 400 years. It has served variously as a post office, a fishing base, a whaling station, a hospital, a mental asylum, a military base, and -- most infamously -- as a penal colony, for which it was dubbed "South Africa's Alcatraz." The banished have included Angolan and West African slaves, princes from the East, South African chiefs, lepers, the mentally insane, French Vichy POWs, and, most recently, opponents of the apartheid regime. But all that changed on September 24, 1997, when the Robben Island Museum was officially opened by its most famous political prisoner. The island, once the symbol of political oppression and enforced division, was to be transformed into a symbol of reconciliation. In Mandela's words, "Few occasions could illuminate so sharply the changes of recent years; fewer still could bring to sharp focus the challenges ahead." Rising to this challenge is an eclectic complement of staff -- artists, historians, environmentalists, ex-political prisoners, and ex-wardens. It's hard to imagine how a group of people with such diverse backgrounds and ideologies could work together, but it seems anything is possible once you've established common ground -- in this case, the 586 hectares (1,447 acres) of Robben Island. Patrick Matanjana, one of the prison tour guides, spent 20 years behind bars on the island. Now he spends time at Robben Island's bar, fraternizing with the very people who upheld the system he was trying to sabotage. "They know me; they respect me," he says when asked what it's like to sit and drink with former enemies. "We are trying to correct a great wrong. They also buy the drinks," he grins. The island's ironies don't end here. Even the bar, the Alpha 1 Officers' Club, has historic significance: This is where Patrick's latrine bucket would have been emptied in the 1960s and 1970s, before the prisoners had access to toilets (not to mention beds, hot water, or adequate nutrition). Despite the radical changes, the remaining ex-wardens, some of whom remained in charge of island security, did not want to leave. "You cry twice on Robben Island," explained skipper Jan Moolman, who first stepped onto the island in 1963 as one of PAC leader Robert Subukwe's personal wardens. "The day you arrive, and the day you have to leave." For the many day-trippers, all it takes is the sight of Mandela's cell.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's South Africa, 5th Edition, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Find Hotel Deals on Yahoo Travel»