Management at Robben Island Museum said the overwhelming response to their free trips on Heritage Day, to the world heritage site, has been a lesson learnt for organising future events.

Scores of people from all over the country registered for the free event. Long queues of visitors were formed at Nelson Mandela Gateway on Monday morning, who hoped to catch a ferry but some had been turned away.

Spokesperson for the Robben Island Museum, Morongoa Ramaboa, said they apologise for the inconvenience and hope people can visit the island in the future.

Ramaboa added that, “It was an overwhelming response by South Africans across the board that came and wanted to visit Robben Island Museum and they only had one day to do so. So, this is a clear indication that there is a need to open this up more. Unfortunately, per day, we can only accommodate a set number of people and because of the excess number that showed up today, some of them sadly have to go back home without having visited Robben Island Museum”.