1. Robben Island Museum (Robben Island, Cape Town).

Cape Town’s most famous museum, Robben Island Museum, is situated on Robben Island, which lies about 10km off the coast of Cape Town, in Table Bay. Although Robben Island has been used as a military training station and a hospital in the past, it is best known as the site of the maximum security prison in which Nelson Mandela was incarcerated between 1964 and 1982.

The island was transformed into a museum in 1997 and became a World Heritage Site in 1999. You can get to Robben Island by ferry from Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront, and take a tour of the prison complex, where you can see the cell in which Nelson Mandela was imprisoned.

Image: Kaihsu Tai.

2. The Iziko Maritime Centre (Union-Castle House, Dock Road, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town).

The Iziko Maritime Centre is Cape Town’s maritime museum and contains a range of exhibits relating to the history of shipping in Cape Town and Table Bay. Items on display within the Iziko Maritime Museum include the oldest existing model of Table Bay’s harbour and a number of models of ships.

The museum also includes the John H. Marsh Maritime Research Centre, which includes nearly 20,ooo photographs of ships.

3. The District 6 Museum (25a Buitenkant Street, Cape Town).

The District 6 Museum includes a range of exhibits relating to the history of the District 6 area of Cape Town. District 6 was one of the city’s most densely populated areas and a tight-knit community until the 1970s, when the apartheid government declared that it would now be a “whites-only” area and forcibly removed more than 60,000 black residents from their homes.

You can either explore the museum on your own or take a guided tour with one of District 6′s ex-residents. Exhibits within the District 6 Museum include photos, documents, video recordings and street signs, as well as a small collection of works by local artists.

4. The Gold of Africa Museum (Martin Melck House, 96 Strand Street, Cape Town)

Cape Town’s Gold of Africa Museum is housed in the beautiful Martin Melck House, a historic townhouse, which has now been restored to its former glory. The museum’s collection was begun by Josef Mueller, a Swiss art lover, and was housed in Geneva until 2001, when it was bought by a gold mining company and transported to Cape Town.

The permanent collection includes more than 350 artefacts created in Western Africa and a number of gold items crafted in Southern Africa. The museum also holds regular temporary exhibitions, and has a goldsmiths’ studio, a restaurant and a shop. There are a range of tours to choose from, including a torchlit night tour. You will need to book your tour in advance, and charges apply.

5. The South African Museum (25 Queen Victoria Street Gardens, Cape Town).

Founded in 1825, Cape Town’s South African Museum is the oldest museum in sub-Saharan Africa. It moved to its current location in 1897 and is now one of Cape Town’s most popular attractions.

It has two main types of permanent collection, the natural history collections and the social history collections. The natural history collections include a wide range of objects, including fossils,rocks, minerals and insects, whilst the social history collections include ceramics, textiles, toys, weapons and archaeological exhibits. 

Many travel operators provide flights from the U.K. to Cape Town and you’ll find a wide range of hotels and guest houses to choose from within the city. Most of the main museums in Cape Town are easy to reach by public transport, taxi or hire car.

High street surfwear store Fat Face is running a competition in which you could win a two week holiday to Zanzibar, which includes a visit to a turtle sanctuary. The competition is being run in conjunction with Baobab Expeditions and Virgin Atlantic.

The prize includes: return flights for two from the UK to Zanzibar with Virgin Atlantic, departing from the UK on Friday 2nd October 2009 and returning on Friday 9th October 2009; seven nights’ accommodation for two at the Zanzibar Serena Inn in Stone Town; a day-trip to a turtle sanctuary. You’ll also spend a day exploring the UNESCO World Heritage site of Stone Town.

You can enter the competition by completing the form on the Fat Face Community website. Entries must be received by Saturday 15th Agust 2009.

Image: Esculapio

In our previous post about travel and its contribution to climate change, we talked about volunteering holidays, where you can actively make a contribution towards improving the environment.

Responsible Travel, a Brighton-based ecotourism company which offers a range of green holidays from various travel operators, is currently advertising a fantastic 14-day holiday in Mauritius.

This trip offers you the best of both worlds. You can holiday in beautiful surroundings, and will have the opportunity to explore the island’s sights and relax on its beaches, but you’ll also be involved in community work during your stay.

The itinerary includes: climbing the island’s second largest mountain, Le Pouce;  visiting the Grand Basin, a Hindu temple and lake; visiting the Black River Gorges National Park; a trip to Chamarel Seven Coloured Sands; a day trip to the Southern Coast, on which you’ll see Rochester Falls, Le Gris Gris, Le Souffler and Blue Bay; climbing Lion Mountain; a boat trip to Ile Aux Cerfs; a trip to Pamplemousses Botanical Gardens; and a day in Port Louis, the island’s capital city.

You’ll also spend a day carrying out youth and community work, and you’ll be able to buy and plant a native plant in a conservation area in order to help the environment.

During the trip, you will stay in small guest houses and hotels, meaning that your stay will directly benefit the local economy. Many of these hotels and guest houses are eco-friendly, using solar powered showers and producing energy from burning waste sugar cane, for example. During the trip, food is also generally bought from independent local traders, again helping the economy.

Departure dates for 2009 are as follows: 2 May, 6 June, 4 July, 1 August, 3 October and 7 November. The trip costs £645 and the price includes accommodation and food as stated in the itinerary. You will need to pay for and arrange your own flights to Mauritius.

Image courtesy of: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Oke

BBC Wildlife Magazine has got together with Intrepid Travel to offer readers the chance to win an eight day holiday in Tanzania.

The prize consists of two places on an Intrepid Travel “Serengeti Trail” trip. This trip begins in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. You’ll travel across the Great Rift Valley to Kisii and then to Musoma, near Lake Victoria in Tanzania, before heading into the Serengeti National Park, where you will camp for a night. You’ll then head off to the Ngorongoro Crater and the Meserani Snake Park before returning to Nairobi.

Please note that the prize does not include flights, airport transfers or any other accommodation. Meals are provided on the nights when you are camping, but you will need to pay for all other meals.

You can enter the competition via the BBC Wildlife Magazine website and entries must be received by midnight on 9 March 2009. The winner must take the trip before 1 March 2010 and the following dates are not available: any dates during July and August, or between the 16 December 2009 and 6 January 2010.

Image courtesy of: © Kristian Sekulic | Dreamstime.com