Robben Island, Kirstenbosch Gärten und Groot Constantia Tour

The guide hadn’t checked if the ferry actually went to Robben Island that day, and it turned out it was closed for tourists. He didn’t have a back up plan either, and ended up taking us to a zoo instead.

Abel is a brilliant guide with so much enthusiasm - the wintry weather meant we couldn’t do Robben Island but we certainly made up for that! Abel curated a fantastic tour with lots of fun activities - and was more than happy to stop for random ostrich photos on the beach!! Thanks, Abel !!!

After booking, the tour operator informed me that the tour's pick up time for was 7:30am sharp. At 7:35 am on the day of the tour, I contacted the tour operator to let them know that I hadn't been picked up yet and asked if they were coming to get me or had the Robben Island Tour been canceled. I contacted the tour operator again at 7:48 am, and again no response. I ended up reaching out to Viator for a refund.

This tour is advertised as a tour with a PRIVATE GUIDE,” which I believe is a false description. Yes, my wife and I were the only 2 people on the tour, and we were picked up by a “private tour guide.” However, our “private tour guide,” JoJo, picked us up at our hotel and drove us to the Kirstenbosch Gardens where he told us where to go to purchase our tickets and informed us of the time he would return to pick us up for the next tour. We entered and toured the gardens by ourselves for about 75 minutes until we were fortunate enough to join a free scheduled volunteer-led guided tour of the gardens (for about an hour due to our time constraints). The volunteer guide informed us about the history of the gardens, the various flowers in the sections we toured, and she was fantastic and very knowledgeable. Our “private tour guide” then picked us up in Kirstenbosch Gardens at the appointed time, and he drove us to Groot Constantia Winery. Again, he told us where to go to purchase tickets for a wine tasting and informed us of the time he would return to pick us up for the next tour. The wines we tasted were very good. However, we did not purchase any wines because of the extremely high cost to ship the wines to the USA. The shipping cost alone would have been equivalent to the cost to purchase 6 bottles of wine for every one bottle we purchased. I recorded the names of the wines I liked, and I will see if I can purchase them from a wine seller near my home. We also toured the onsite museum where we learned about the history of the winery, including how Black slaves were used to work in the winery. Additionally, we purchased lunch at the winery, which was very good. There was no tour of the winery facilities itself, which was disappointing. Our “private tour guide” again picked us up at Groot Constantia Winery at the appointed time, and he drove us to the Cape Town harbor for the boat ride to Robbins Island Prison. He again informed us of the time he would return to pick us up after the Robbins Island Prison tour. Going to the prison was a very emotional experience, and it was made more so because our prison guide was also a political prisoner who was incarcerated for about 7 years at the prison, and he was imprisoned along with Nelson Mandela and many others. It is very admirable that he chooses to serve as a guide and relive his experience to tourists, and he exhibited a surprisingly cheerful manner at a place that could only be described as horrible, painful and inhumane for him and the other incarcerated political prisoners. Our “private tour guide” picked us up at the Cape Town harbor at the appointed time, and he drove us to back to our hotel. My low rating is due to the FALSE description of the tour as being with a “PRIVATE GUIDE.” Our “private tour guide” was essentially a driver who took us to 3 different locations for sightseeing. We have done a few other Viator privately guided tours, and this tour DEFINITELY WAS NOT a “privately guided tour.” I must say that our “private tour guide,” JoJo, was very pleasant and punctual, and he did inform us of the sights along the way as he drove us to our various destinations, as well as the sights we would see and experience at each of our respective destinations.

Jojo is very nice and gives you time to go at your own pace. I would take another tour in the future!

First the positives. Jojo was a pleasant guide. He was punctual and a safe driver. Robbens Island experience really touched us in terms of the way Tory outlined things on the bus and Sparks an ex political prisoner described things to us in the prison. I had no idea the suffering and cruelty they experienced and hearing it from someone who lived it put it on a whole other levels. Unfortunately the weather was pretty bad when we went- the wind and the rain made for pretty rough going heading to the island that was exponentially worse coming back. That weather also made for less than conducive to explore the Gardens much. We skipped the wine tasting with the weather. Tour would be great with good weather so would recommend- you just cannot plan for Mother Nature!

First the positives. Jojo was a pleasant guide. He was punctual and a safe driver. Robbens Island experience really touched us in terms of the way Tory outlined things on the bus and Sparks an ex political prisoner described things to us in the prison. I had no idea the suffering and cruelty they experienced and hearing it from someone who lived it put it on a whole other levels. Unfortunately the weather was pretty bad when we went- the wind and the rain made for pretty rough going heading to the island that was exponentially worse coming back. That weather also made for less than conducive to explore the Gardens much. We skipped the wine tasting with the weather. Tour would be great with good weather so would recommend- you just cannot plan for Mother Nature!

The whole tour was incredible, the history at Robben Island and a chance to hear stories from ex inmates was a memory that will last a lifetime. Kirstenbosch like the rest of Cape Town is so beautiful and the wine tasting at the end capped off a great tour! Jojo was the best guide, doing a great job driving us between each stop and sharing information.

The ferry was not in operation due to bad weather conditions; they could have known that already at the time of booking..

Georgeo, our tour guide, was professional, friendly and accommodating. Robben island was educational . Both the Island Staff tour guide and the tour guide that had been a political prisoner, offered a clear picture of the Island’s history, both recent and distant. The gardens were beautiful, even though it’s winter here. The food at Moyo offered the perfect comfort food for the time of year. Groot Constancia wineries offered a wine tasting of 5 of their wines. Each wine delivered a pleasant and distinct set of flavourful characteristics. We finished with the Groot Constana dessert wine that was once popular with both Napoleon and Jane Austin. This wine, I believe, is up there and perhaps better than some the best Ice wine, Port or Tokaji wines that I have had the chance to try. Thank you Shine the Way Tour’s.