The Robben Island Ferry
The infamous Robben Island. The place Mandela was held for 18 odd years. The cornerstone of white suppression.
Well, so I'm told. I just went there to chase bees around.
We arrived at 7am. Long before the fat tourists arrive to tut-tut at the atrocities of apartheid, but happily wear Polo shirts made in sweatshops in Laos by children being 'paid' 3 cents a day. Long before the hippies come to lend their support to the new Africa by pouring money into tourist sites, ignorant of the fact that they are owned and operated by wealthy white corporations. No, this early in the morning we were travelling today with those for whom Robben Island represents just another day at the office. For now an entire community has been built up around those rotund Americans with change to spare, and what was once a community of prisoners has become a community of freemen (well perhaps not yet financially free, but they at least have the choice to leave the island).
So I travelled with my trusty companion Chris "THIS IS KAK MAN" Fransman, wedged in amongst the other workmen racously playing dominoes on an ever swaying vessel. Today our mission was to teach the communities on the island how to manage the bees and sell the honey as yet another way to lighten the purses and wallets of their international visitors. Waiting for us at the port was a bakkie (a ute) that had seen many, many better days, the constant salt spray had not been kind to this old girl and the strain was starting to show. In the tray I jumped, with my two coloured companions in the front. Passing a workman, jokes were exchanged that this was an example of reverse-Apartheid.
Now Robben Island is not large, perhaps three kilometers diameter, and is not the sort of place you would expect much wildlife. How wrong you would be.
About five minutes into the trip we passed a colony of penguins
Bontebok (apparently delicious, but they were too quick for me)
Ostriches
Springbok
and of course, the bees
We were going to show the community how to harvest honey, but no one showed up because they were scared of "those little chaps". That's Africa for you...
The infamous Robben Island. The place Mandela was held for 18 odd years. The cornerstone of white suppression.
Well, so I'm told. I just went there to chase bees around.
We arrived at 7am. Long before the fat tourists arrive to tut-tut at the atrocities of apartheid, but happily wear Polo shirts made in sweatshops in Laos by children being 'paid' 3 cents a day. Long before the hippies come to lend their support to the new Africa by pouring money into tourist sites, ignorant of the fact that they are owned and operated by wealthy white corporations. No, this early in the morning we were travelling today with those for whom Robben Island represents just another day at the office. For now an entire community has been built up around those rotund Americans with change to spare, and what was once a community of prisoners has become a community of freemen (well perhaps not yet financially free, but they at least have the choice to leave the island).
So I travelled with my trusty companion Chris "THIS IS KAK MAN" Fransman, wedged in amongst the other workmen racously playing dominoes on an ever swaying vessel. Today our mission was to teach the communities on the island how to manage the bees and sell the honey as yet another way to lighten the purses and wallets of their international visitors. Waiting for us at the port was a bakkie (a ute) that had seen many, many better days, the constant salt spray had not been kind to this old girl and the strain was starting to show. In the tray I jumped, with my two coloured companions in the front. Passing a workman, jokes were exchanged that this was an example of reverse-Apartheid.
Now Robben Island is not large, perhaps three kilometers diameter, and is not the sort of place you would expect much wildlife. How wrong you would be.
About five minutes into the trip we passed a colony of penguins
Bontebok (apparently delicious, but they were too quick for me)
Ostriches
Springbok
and of course, the bees
We were going to show the community how to harvest honey, but no one showed up because they were scared of "those little chaps". That's Africa for you...
posted by Capensis Calamity at 9:06 pm
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