Want to visit Robben Island but live in another country (or stand the possibility of getting seasick on the boat ride over)? Then, my friend, your prayers have been answered. The Robben Island Museum has announced a collaboration with Google Street View that will put the island online, making it accessible the world over.

The Robben Island Museum app uses Google’s Street View technology, which allows users to explore the island using recorded images and go on virtual tours narrated by a former prisoner.

Ahmed Kathrada, a former prisoner of Robben Island, spoke yesterday of how exciting the app is:

Not being able to see or interact with children for 20 years was possibly the most difficult thing to endure during my time on the island. There’s a poetic justice that children in classrooms all over the world will now be able to visit Robben Island using this technology.

The CEO of the Robben Island Museum, Sibongiseni Mkhize, also said that “if we don’t embrace technology, we will become irrelevant” and that “people want to see [what they are paying for] before they make a commitment and spend money. We are using technology to enhance the story of the island”.

As South Africans, we should all have visited the island, and now we can show overseas visitors another angle of our immense history.

The app is available for Android phones for the time being – the Apple version will be out soon.

[Source: Times Live]