Michelle Obama cancels trip to Mandela prison



Michelle Obama cancels trip to Mandela prison Cape Town: Michelle Obama's planned ferry trip to the Robben Island prison where Nelson Mandela was held for 18 years has been cancelled due to bad weather.

Aides to the first lady said high winds made the sea too rough to cross.

Mrs Obama is on a weeklong visit to South Africa and Botswana to promote youth leadership, education and health and wellness.

She also has been touring landmarks of South Africa's past, as a country that once institutionalised the separation of black and white under a system known as apartheid.

Robben Island is one of those sites. Mandela, a former South African president, was jailed on the island off the coast of Cape Town for his role in the movement to undo apartheid.

Bureau Report