Watch out!

You had to be careful here.. water slicked path by drop of over a hundred feet (if not more) on our way to Plattklip Gorge. 

Phew

Resting under an outcropping.. it was a nice place to stop. 

it lives...

...upon the side of the mountain. 

Along our path

 

into the city below

Not simply a Billy Talent ripoff...
A view back down our path once we had gone as far vertically that we could go. 

Up and away

I love this picture! Seeing everything here makes me want to explore it all again. Suzy and I are almost at the top of the easy climb. Once we get to where the rock face starts you need gear to continue. We will end up making our way to the left around the mountain towards Platklip Gorge. You can see the cables for the cars above where we were, and the clouds pouring over the mountain! 

Ravenloft...

Cable car taking you to the top of Table Mountain. I don't know who would have gone up this day as visibility was exactly zero at times. Right now the cable car is not going up in fog but rather the clouds! 

TV Bar

Suzy enjoys a TV Bar while we climb up the mountain from behind the Lower Cable Station. The rocks were arranged in such a way as to provide a stair case of sorts. At least it gave us something to sit down on! TV Bar's are a chocolate bar not sold in North America.. good crispy rice with Chocolate etc. 

Lower Cable Station

 
This is the Table Mountain depature centre for those who want to take the cableway up the mountain to the top. (Obviously named the Upper Cable Station) Due to the weather Suzy and I decided to climb as much as the mountain as possible. We were headed to Platklip Gorge. (Which would be the point we climbed back down the mountain.)
 

The Bridge and Seal! Live

 

On our ferry back from Robbin Island we saw this little one swimming around. The seal climbed up a small staircase that went to the waters edge and began drying off and sunning on the concrete gangway.

On an interesting note the bridge in the background moves 90 degrees away (not up..but horizontally) when a ship needs to get past. A horn sounds and you have to wait for it to open and then close. Cool convenience!

 

Cape Town and Table Mountain

 


As seen from the returning Robbin Island ferry. 

Storm surge wall

 


This wall is so huge! Notice if you can the rather large earth-moving truck located about the middle of the wall.

This is off of Robbin Island to calm waters around the dock, etc. 

Not white?

 


What you see above is the official breakdown of the prisoners diet.

You'll notice two headings: BANTUS (Blacks) and COLOUREDS/ASIATICS.

If you follow this list down you see that in pretty much every category group B received more food than C. This sign is very instructive when trying to understand how the "races" were viewed in South Africa.

Coloureds/Asiatics are anyone who is considered non-white but is not a darker shade of black. Light skinned individuals no matter their background; whether Asian, Mixed, Arabic, Persian etc were considered Coloured. Therefore you could have a family where different members were considered a different race depending on their shade.

Of further interest notice that group B receives Bread while group C, Puzamandla. Basically think of the crumbs left over after cutting up a loaf of bread. Mix this with water and voila! You have their lunch.

Horrible... 

Tired?

 


This is a picture of what the ANC inmates would have to sleep on. There would be so many prisoners in one room that at night these mats laid out would leave behind no floor space. Sleeping on your back or stomache was virtually impossible.

I slept on the floor for 7 months or so while we had bed bugs in my apartment here in Toronto. I had to pile clothes, towels, sheets and comforters down in order to ensure my hips didn't feel DEAD by morning. (If I slept on my side my back would feel kinked out due to the rididity of the floor) I could only imagine sleeping on these for years after years.

Eventually due to the Red Cross's investigations the prisoners were given beds and material to make bedding etc. but still... 

Tour guide

 


This man above was placed in jail on charges of terrorism. He planted bombs at an Intelligence building in Pretoria. During the explosion, 12 - 15 people were injured but there were 0 deaths. He was imprisoned along with other ANC members including Nelson Mandela on Robbin Island. Former inmates have been rehired as tour guides of the island. It lended a certain intensity to everything he discussed with us. 

Just in time means....

Military bunkers built on the Island sometime in the late 30's early 40's. They commisioned a company to make some large-mm rated gun emplacement to defend against any Axis invaders. The gun was finished around 1948-49. ahem..  

Prisoner # ...

Another somewhat permanent resident of Robbin Island. This tuna boat crashed ashore, one of a few wrecks to ground around this island. Notice in the pic both the kelp forests and rocks protruding out of the water. 

* * *

This is many people's favourite picture. There is something about capturing a private moment between mother and daughter I suppose. Relaxed and intimate. This was taken on a break on our bus tour of the island. I love the weathered rock and the old building. Mamy Cathy and Suzy are standing just over the Atlantic Ocean.  

Trapped

Imagine yourself a little ways back into the past. You inhabit that little house on the left by yourself for 18 years. The guards who patrol around your house are under orders not to talk to you. There is no electricity so when night comes you are clothed in darkness. Dogs, trained to kill you, are being housed right outside. (That is what you can see on the right side of this picture) What would happen to you? To your mind? And what was your crime? You were of the 'opposition party' you were black and you wanted change. After more than 10 years in here the prisoner started going a little crazy so they did permit a light and books and conversations with the guards were relaxed. But still. When the inhabitant (when I remember the name I will add it) got ill it was at a time when the world was looking at the Apartheid policies in not too nice of a way. To not have this person die on infamous Robbin Island they were moved to Pretoria where they died in prison there. Bloody politics hmm? 

Attraction is the wrong word

We thought that these buildings you see in the background looked sort of like 'ancient remnants' when in fact they were just unfinished guard buildings. The island is no longer used as a prison base and it's only function is as a tourist attraction. 

The end of their 'freedom'

Suzy her mom and I visited Robbin Island on our trip and here we were on the tour around the island. The building I'm leaning on is an old communications centre. Out in the water you can see lines of something sticking out. Those are kelp forests. 

Mandela's life

The oft taken picture of Mandela's cell on Robbin Island. Most of the people on the tour with us were not really tourists per se but locals and so this probably had a greater impact than usual. (Due to the fact that they got to see this man day after day and then now see where he was) 

The Story of the 4 pics (stupid no matter how you slice it)

History: Suzy and I had spent a long day exploring Cape Town's Muslim quarter. To wait for her uncle to pick us up we decided to meet at "our spot" The Golden Acre mall. The mall was closing and we usually go to Nando's restaurant but weren't feeling all that hungry. Instead we ended up at McDonald's (I know that is sick, but I'm just being honest) for a snack. (A McFlurry which interestingly is very small and only comes in 1 size - of course!)

The reason we go into the restaurants is to avoid the street kids. They are aggressive beggars. (Reaching into clothing at times, asking for any food left over, etc.) They do not let you just stand near them and not bug you. So when we saw two guys around our age just standing there taking pictures of them from 4 feet away we knew something was up. The two guys had the kids pose, pretend to huff ether or alcohol, drink and fight.

Pic 1 - The two camera men ran across the street and got into the car you see. The 5 kids immediately chased them. It appeared like the two guys were going to take off on them. (They probably promised them food or money if they let them take the pictures) The drivers door is open and the kids are talking loudly and gesturing grandly.

Pic 2 - You may be able to tell that more kids are in this pic now. Due to the noise the kids were making they attracted more. Now some of them are reaching into the car. They are trying to grab the kid in the front and are pulling at him and his seatbelt. There were probably about 10 kids there now. (These 2 punks fucked with the wrong streetkids.

Pic 3 - At every ABM I saw downtown there are security guards. ABSA bank had a terminal about 10 feet away from all of this. The guards quickly ran over after watching for a few minutes.

On the left of the pic you see a white guy wearing a baseball hat. That was one of the photographers. I never saw why he got out of the backseat but watched him get back in. On his immediate right you can see a streetkid huffing on a brown paper bag. That is reality. (The car door on the driver side is still open at this point)

Pic 4 - The security guards ended up seeming like they were giving a lecture to the guys in the car as well as the streetkids. Notice that 2 of the kids are now standing directly in front of the car. The driver door is still open and a kid is still leaning in. I never saw but he leaned in the whole time as if he was holding the steering wheel or the guy or his seatbelt.

About 10 seconds after we snapped this photo the guys in the car took off VERY fast. The almost ran the 2 kids in front of the car down and dragged the kid who was in the driver side for about 15 feet before he let go. They then took a quick right hand turn and blasted down the street. The guards gave chase but ended up coming back soon after.

***

Note: We were told that at times the streetkids are picked up for begging but are only kept for one day before they return to the street.

Just so you know what happened...

I posted all of my pics in order. The series from 1 - 4. Then when I went in and gave them titles, the order got screwed up and pic 3 comes before 1 and 2.

I found nothing to reset these except maybe to delete and re-post them which I may do one day. For now they remain. (4 pics below this post)

Pic 1of4 (erroneously: Carjacking)

Pic 1of4 - story to be laid out at the bottom of the 4th picture tomorrow at some point. 

Pic 2of4 (erroneously: Carjacking)

Pic 2of4 

Pic 3of4 (erroneously: Carjacking)

Pic 3of4