Yzerfontein - Robben Island
3 Aug SABC2 19:3016 Mile Beach, one of the longest unbroken sandy beaches on the South African coastline, extends in a gentle curve from around Tsaarsbank in the West Coast National Park, all the way to the town of Yzerfontein. From this spectacular sweep of shoreline, southwards toward Robben Island in Table Bay, the wilderness of the West Coast gradually gives way to the sprawling suburbs of the Mother City. This coast links the very distant past and the present, a place where ancient clues to our ancestry lie alongside icons of our country’s recent history.
The Yzerfontien Dig
When the small harbour at Yzerfontein was expanded in the early 1980s, building contractors exposed an ancient archaeological site containing a 3.8 m deep deposit of marine shells, animal bones and stone artefacts. Today the site perches precariously on an artificial cliff face, but the deposits were originally in a rock shelter, the front of which the contractors destroyed. The age of the deposits is not yet certain, but they probably fall between 45 000 and 120 000 years ago, though a narrower range of 110 000–70 000 years ago seems likely. The site (called Ysterfontein 1 by archaeologists) therefore belongs to the period known as the Middle Stone Age (roughly 250 000–22 000 years ago). Animal remains include shellfish, tortoises, mammals and birds, and were probably brought into the shelter by both people and carnivores (though obviously not at the same time!). It seems that Middle Stone Age people either did not, or only rarely, ate fish. Also, they collected a smaller variety of shellfish than did more modern hunter-gatherers.
Dassen Island
Almost directly opposite Yzerfontein, 9 km off the coast, lies Dassen Island, the second largest of South Africa’s offshore islands. The barren outcrop of Dassen Island was first visited by European seafarers in the early 1600s. The island is surrounded by razor sharp submerged reefs and the icy Atlantic – which can conjure up dense rolling fog from seemingly out of nowhere. These elements contributed to countless vessels being wrecked here in the past, until a sturdy cast- iron lighthouse was erected in 1893. This lighthouse is one of the most crucial beacons on the Cape shipping route, and is manned at all times by a single senior lighthouse keeper. This is life-saving, but unenviable work – Dassen Island lighthouse is arguably one of the most isolated and bleakest of all manned lighthouses. Once every six weeks, much-needed provisions and maintenance technicians are flown in by helicopter, and the lighthouse keeper catches a ride back to Cape Town for four days of shopping and a taste of civilisation.
Dassen Island derived its name from its original occupants – dassies, or rock hyraxes (Procavia capensis). But decades of shipwrecks have washed up hundreds of starving castaways on Dassen Island, and the dassie population suffered the onslaught. The early seafarers who knew these waters realised that wrecks were inevitable, and with the dassies wiped out, any men who managed to reach the island were doomed to die from starvation. So they decided to restock the island with another hardy species and introduced the European rabbit (Lepus europaeus), which have thrived here ever since.
Some 6000 angulate tortoises (Chersina angulata) also roam Dassen Island. This is the densest population in South Africa. The origin of the angulate tortoise on Dassen Island is still somewhat controversial – some argue that they are indigenous, while others believe that humans introduced them early in the 1900s. The biggest threat to survival on Dassen Island is the virtual absence of fresh water, and the tortoises have had to adapt to these conditions. They produce highly concentrated urine. Since tortoises are herbivores and plant diversity on the island is very low, their diet differs from that on the mainland. During the dry season the faeces of the European rabbit also forms an important part of their diet.
Apart from rabbits and tortoises, Dassen Island is also a seabird haven. It is one of only two marine locations along the southern African coast where the Great White Pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus) breeds, and some 650 breeding pairs presently nest here. It supports around 3000 Swift Tern (Sterna bergii) breeding pairs, and is one of three South African offshore islands where Leach´s Storm Petrel (Oceanodroma leucorhoa) – a bird which is mainly a non-breeding migrant from the northern hemisphere – is known to breed. But the true proprietors of Dassen Island are members of those most comical of seabirds, the penguins. The African Penguin (Spheniscus demersus) is endemic to the southwest coast of southern Africa and is also called the Jackass Penguin, due to its donkey-like braying calls. These little tuxedo-clad birds may look rather ungainly on land, but underwater they are most graceful, and fast – adults can swim at speeds of up to 12 km/h. They normally dive down to depths of around 30 m to search for a meal, but they can go down as deep as 130 m.
In the early 1900’s, Dassen Island was home to almost 1.5 million penguins. The population then became the target of severe over-exploitation, with penguin eggs harvested commercially at a rate of almost 50% of the total number of eggs produced. Between 1900 and 1930, no less than 13 million eggs were collected from Dassen Island, a practice that continued until 1967. And every year, the breeding population of penguins shrunk a little more. Recently, there were fewer than 17 000 breeding pairs on the island – constituting a population decline of more than 95% in just 100 years. And as if this indiscriminate plunder of penguin eggs were not enough, the penguins of Dassen Island were faced with another predator from the mainland – domestic cats gone feral. During 1983, an estimated 2000 penguin chicks were killed by cats, and although most of the feline culprits have been removed, a handful are proving extremely difficult to catch.
Unless this is done, the cat population, and the predation on seabirds, will increase again. Although the threats posed by egg harvesting and feral cats were particularly prevalent on Dassen Island, these birds were also affected by other factors impacting on penguins though-out their range, such as the destruction of breeding habitat due to guano collection in the 19th century. More recently, a decrease in the penguins’ main food items (anchovies and pilchards) due to over-exploitation by commercial fisheries have been responsible for declining numbers, and oil spills is another constant threat. The African penguin is listed as vulnerable, and concerted efforts are being made to save these birds from extinction.
The Koeberg Nuclear Power Station
On the last stretch of West Coast, just to the other side of Cape Town’s most northerly suburbs, lies the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station. Koeberg is located about 25 km northwest of the city and is the only nuclear power station in Africa. It contains two uranium pressurized water reactors and boasts the largest turbine generators in the Southern Hemisphere. Construction of the plant began in 1976, and eight years later in 1984, Koeberg started its commercial operation. Today, it powers most of the Western Cape and is vital to the stability of the national grid. Koeberg is surrounded by a beautiful 3000-hectare private nature reserve that is open to the public. The reserve plays a vital role in conserving the threatened West Coast Strandveld vegetation type, as well as dune veld. Various mammal and reptile species can be seen here, and with over 150 identified bird species, the Koeberg Nature Reserve is a birdwatcher’s dream.
Robben Island
Travelling down the coast from Dassen Island and Yzerfontein, one is greeted by the unmistakable shape of Table Mountain in the distance, and out to sea, another Cape Town icon becomes visible.
Robben Island is situated in Table Bay, 9.6 km north of Cape Town harbour. It is the largest island off the South African coast, covering an area of 518 hectares. During the last glacial period, which ended around 10 000 years ago, sea levels were much lower than today and Robben Island was linked to the mainland. Ancient Stone Age people occupied it during that time, but once it became an island, it was free of humans until the first European sailors arrived at the Cape. Since colonial times, the natural environment of Robben Island has changed dramatically. A number of alien plant and animal species have been introduced and the African penguin colony on the island was hunted to the brink of extinction. It is likely that several sailors visited Robben Island after Bartholomeu Dias landed in Table Bay in 1488, but the first recorded landing on the island was made in 1498 by a group of Portuguese sailors who took refuge in a cave. During the 1500s, passing seafarers used the island as a refreshment station where they hunted seals and penguins. They also used it as a “post office” – leaving letters in secret spots for fellow sailors.
Robben Island had been used as a place of banishment even before Jan van Riebeeck had colonised the Cape, but the island’s fate as prison was firmly sealed when the colonial authorities in the Cape sent slaves and exiles there to quarry lime around 1657. Since then, Robben Island has played a major role in our country’s history as a place of exile, isolation and imprisonment. One of the first prisoners was the Khoisan leader Autshumao, also known as “Herry the Strandloper”. Autshumao acted as translator and mediator between the Khoisan and the Dutch, but the relationship between himself and van Riebeeck became strained when Autshumao was blamed for any breakdown in the livestock trade, and he was banished to Robben Island in 1658. From around 1681, the Dutch brought a new group of prisoners to the island – political prisoners opposed to Dutch rule in the East Indies. Among the banished were religious leaders and royalty from Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, and these people played an important role in the establishment of Islam in the Cape. Today the kramat (an Islamic shrine built on the grave of a Muslim leader) on the island is part of a circle of kramats around Cape Town forming the Holy Circle of Islam, which Muslim followers believe to protect the city from both man-made and natural disasters. During the 1700s and 1800s, prisoners on Robben Island included any persons who opposed Dutch colonialism, and chiefs and indigenous leaders opposed to British colonial rule and land dispossession.
In 1846, the General Infirmary was established on Robben Island, serving as “lunatic” asylum and leprosarium. Conditions for leprosy sufferers were very harsh. Apart from being “banished” to the island, they were also segregated from all other patients and had to suffer in isolation. The patients rebelled by burning the wards and sending a petition to Queen Elizabeth. After several commissions of enquiry into mismanagement and the ill treatment of patients, the General Infirmary and leprosarium was closed in 1931. Hereafter Robben Island served as a World War II military station and naval base.
Perhaps the most significant period of imprisonment on the island started in 1961, when political prisoners involved in the resistance struggle against apartheid were incarcerated here. Several famous anti-apartheid leaders spent many years on Robben Island, locked away for their beliefs – people like Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Mac Maharaj and Eddie Daniels. But one name stands out above all the rest – that of prisoner 466/64 – Nelson Mandela. Robben Island is virtually synonymous with the name of this legendary man, who was imprisoned here from 1964 to 1982. Mandela, along with other leaders that the authorities regarded as more influential, were isolated from the rest of the prison population and held in single cells in the Maximum Security Prison. In the early years, prison conditions were exceptionally harsh and unspeakably cruel, only marginally improving from 1977 onwards, and the Robben Island prison became internationally known for its institutional brutality. But those imprisoned on the island refused to let their spirits be broken by humiliation and assault, and they exhibited remarkable determination and an unwavering will to endure. Their time of liberation finally came when, after a brutal 46-year-long struggle, apartheid was dismantled in a series of negotiations from 1990 to 1993. Nelson Mandela was finally freed from the Victor Verster prison on 11 February 1990, 27 years after he had first been imprisoned. This extraordinary man served as South Africa’s first democratically elected president from 1994 to 1999, and he has become an icon of peace and freedom to millions of people across the world.
The last political prisoners were released from the Robben Island prison in May 1991, ending an era of hardship and exile. The island has always been a place of struggle, and resistance to harsh conditions and oppression is threaded throughout its history. Today, Robben Island is a symbol of freedom and liberation and of the triumph of the human spirit over adversity and injustice. In 1997, it opened its doors as a museum and it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. Around 1500 tourists – both local and international – visit the island each day. Robben Island is also slowly recovering its natural heritage, with penguins and other marine birds finding a safe home here once more.
Plough- snails
Anyone who has ever taken a stroll along a sandy beach would probably have noticed little snail-like creatures with beautiful pointed shells hauling themselves from the waves onto the beach. They are called plough snails (Bulia spp.) because of the way they bury themselves in the sand.
The activity patterns of these snails are governed by the tides. During low-tide, they stay buried beneath the sand, but as soon as the tide starts coming in, the snail uses its broad, flat foot to ride the waves up onto the beach – just like a little surfer. Here the plough snails start searching for food. They are scavengers, and once they’ve caught the scent of a dead or dying fish, jellyfish or bluebottle, they frantically scramble up the beach towards the food, often congregating in large numbers around a piece of carrion. They are completely blind, but have an extremely acute sense of smell and can detect a dead fish when the scent in the water is as low as 0.00001%! Plough snails feed by extending a proboscis into the prey, and then sucking up as much food as possible before the tide goes out and leaves them stranded on the beach. A plough snail is able to consume a third of its body weight in a single feeding – which would be enough to sustain it for a full fourteen days!
The Freedom Swim
Robben Island had served as a prison for most of the time between 1652 and 1991, and thus for more than three centuries, it has been a place from where people have tried to escape. The 7 km to the nearest land at Bloubergstrand will have seemed tantalisingly close for a determined aspirant escapee. But the island is surrounded by an icy cold, seldom calm, shark-invested ocean. On most days in summer the notorious Cape Doctor – the fierce southeasterly wind – stirs up the waters, and northwesterly gales ravage the island in winter. These conditions have made it virtually impossible for any prisoner to successfully escape from the island without a boat. Today, fortunately, no one any longer needs to try to escape from Robben Island, but several long-distance swimmers have in recent years taken up the challenge of swimming the crossing between the island and mainland. The main swims range between 7 and 11 km, but despite the relatively short distances, swimming Robben Island has become many an accomplished swimmer’s nemesis – mainly due to the extremely cold water (which ranges between only 11° and 18° Celsius in summer). The first officially recorded Robben Island swim happened in 1899 when Henry Charteris Hooper swam from the island to the old Cape Town harbour. It took him over 9 hours to swim the distance of about 11 km – today an average time would be 3 hours 30 minutes. The record for the fastest swim was set in 2005, in a time just over 1 hour 33 minutes, while the record for the most crossings is an incredible 43 times. The swim is attempted by people of all ages – the youngest person to complete it being 12 years and the oldest 65 years. Once a year, about 100 long-distance swimmers brave the icy waters as part of the Freedom Swim, an event that celebrates South Africa´s transition to democracy in 1994. The Robben Island swim remains a dream of many swimmers from all over the world, not only because of the gruelling physical challenge it presents, but also because of its historical significance.
