Robben Island Lighthouse, Maritime navigation lighthouse on Robben Island, South Africa

Robben Island Lighthouse is an 18-metre tower completed in January 1865 on Mintoheuwel, the highest part of Robben Island in Table Bay. Its light, electrified in 1938, is visible 25 kilometres away. It is the only lighthouse in South Africa that flashes without rotating.

Completed in January 1865 on Mintoheuwel, the island's highest point, the lighthouse replaced fires lit on the hill, then called Vuurberg, to warn sailors of the island. South Africa's first navigation light, a wooden scaffold holding burning pitch rings, stood south of the equator; wood, coal and 18th-century wax candles followed. The first true South African lighthouse began operating at Green Point on 12 April 1824 with a whale-oil lamp.

The hill under the tower was called Vuurberg, "Fire Mountain", because fires were lit there to warn sailors of the island before the tower existed. The first navigation light south of the equator, a Dutch "vuyrbaecken", was a wooden scaffold holding burning pitch rings, later replaced by wood fires, coal and, in the 18th century, wax candles.

The tower stands on Mintoheuwel, the highest point of Robben Island in Table Bay, and its light reaches 25 kilometres out to sea. Reaching the island means joining a guided tour from Cape Town; the tower itself is not open for climbing. Look for the lantern on the hilltop once the boat approaches the jetty.

Robben Island Lighthouse is the only lighthouse in South Africa that flashes without rotating. Its light, electrified in 1938, reaches 25 kilometres. The tower stands on Mintoheuwel, the island's highest point, a hill once called Vuurberg because fires were lit there to warn sailors.