The best places to pay tribute to Nelson Mandela

Anniversaries which salute the relatively recently departed are always tricky to pull off with the necessary amount of dignity and respect. But the case of Nelson Mandela, who died less than five years ago - in December 2013 - is, perhaps different.

The freedom-fighter-turned-president-of-South-Africa was such a colossus of the 20th century, a man whose actions helped to reshape a country, that today's centenary of his birth - he was born on July 18 2018 - feels like a prime moment to celebrate his legacy.

The following places - some infamous, some less known - all played a significant part in his life, are pertinent to his struggle, or are marking the "birthday" in a special way...

The Nelson Mandela Museum

The early years of Mandela's life are enshrined in a trio of institutions in the Eastern Cape, where he was born and grew up - collectively presented as The Nelson Mandela Museum (nelsonmandelamuseum.org.za).

The largest is the historic Bhunga Building in the town of Mthatha, which houses gifts presented to Mandela by international communities during his presidency. Closer to the meat of the matter, perhaps, is the Nelson Mandela Youth & Heritage Centre in Qunu, the village where he grew up and went to school - and a small exhibition centre in Mvezo, where he was born.

Appropriately, the museum was opened by Mandela himself in February 2000, 10 years after his release from imprisonment. It offers temporary exhibitions in the Bhunga Building, and can arrange guided hikes around Qunu. The area can be slotted into the 16-day "Journey Through The Eastern Cape" self-drive break sold by Cox & Kings (020 3918 4521; coxandkings.co.uk) - from £3,395 a head, including international and domestic flights.

Mandela House

The scene shifts to Orlando West, in the Soweto district of Johannesburg - in the form of the property (mandelahouse.com) where Mandela lived between 1946 and his arrest in 1962. It sits at 8115 Vilakazi Street, a single-storey red-brick structure which still bears bullet holes in the walls from attacks by South Africa's Apartheid regime. For all this, it was a home that was close to Mandela's heart. He returned to it directly after his release in 1990, and would later write in his autobiography: "That night I returned with [my wife] Winnie to No.8115 in Orlando West. It was only then that I knew in my heart I had left prison. For me, No.8115 was the centre point of my world, the place marked with an X in my mental geography." He donated the house to the Soweto Heritage Trust in 1997.

The Apartheid Museum

Arguably more important than Mandela's former home in Johannesburg is this no-punches-pulled museum (apartheidmuseum.org), which dissects the evils of the racist system which he spent his life fighting. Somewhat awkwardly, it is located in Gold Reef City - an amusement park and entertainment complex on the south-west side of the metropolis. But this ensures plenty of footfall to an institution which delivers its message via film footage, photos and witness testimony, explaining how a segregated state operated - and the implications for its citizens. As it puts it on its own website, this is a "journey that tells a story of a state-sanctioned system based on racial discrimination - and the struggle of the majority to overthrow this tyranny."

Langa Heritage Museum

Pitched some 10 miles east of central Cape Town, the Langa Heritage Museum (0027 21 694 8320; Washington Street and Lerotholi Avenue) also shows the bared teeth of the Apartheid system. Here, what was a "dompas" office - a shard of racist bureaucracy which issued the despised passbooks that all black South Africans had to carry when beyond their designated home area (between 1952 and 1986) - has been preserved in its raw hideousness. You can smell the oppression in the dank flooring.

Robben Island

This notorious outcrop needs little introduction. Set four miles off the mainland, due north of central Cape Town, it was here that Mandela was incarcerated between 1964 and 1982 - sentenced to literal hard labour in gravel and lime quarries, and frequently thrown into solitary confinement. His concrete cell, just 8ft (2.4m) by 7ft (2.1 m), still stands as testimony to his ordeal in a place that has been a Unesco World Heritage site since 1999 - described in its official inscription as a faultline where you can now "witness the triumph of democracy and freedom over oppression and racism". Tours depart from the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town (robben-island.org.za).

Howick

Before Robben Island, there was Howick, a town roughly in the centre of easterly KwaZulu-Natal province. It was here that Mandela was arrested on August 5 1962, while travelling along the main road between Durban and Johannesburg. The spot in question now has a monument in his honour - a clever creation which represents his face as a series of vertical lines, his features only clearly visible from a specific side angle. It can be viewed as part of the "Explore KwaZulu-Natal" tour offered by Timbuktu Travel (020 7193 1326; timbuktutravel.com) - an 11-night odyssey which flits from Durban to Johannesburg. From £2,290 per person - not including international flights.

Shambala Private Game Reserve

Mandela's life also had its brighter moments. The trappings of the South African presidency meant access to a private residence in Shambala Private Game Reserve (around 160 miles north of Johannesburg). The Nelson Mandela Centre for Reconciliation was built between 1999 and 2001, once he had stepped down from the top job - and included a villa where he could rest, write, read, and meet friends and dignitaries.

Since 2015, it has been available for holiday rent, within an enclave where lions roar and giraffes stalk - from 82,490 South African Rand (£4,719) a night, with all meals and a private chef (shambalaprivategamereserve.co.za/nelson-mandela-villa).

Johannesburg

If the idea of tipping your hat to a man who went through the deepest of deprivations from the confines of a luxury hotel seems a jarring concept, you may wish to steer clear of the Saxon Hotel Villa & Spa, which adorns the map of Johannesburg in the gilded Sandhurst district. However, this five-star hotspot does have a legitimate tie to the Mandela story. It was here that he penned some of the closing chapters of his autobiography Long Walk To Freedom Hence the Nelson Mandela Platinum Suite, one of the hotel's most splendid spaces.

Saxon (0027 011 292 6000; saxon.co.za) is currently offering a "100 Days of Madiba" package which includes two nights in the hotel (half-board), and three nights at Shambala Private Game Reserve (full-board, including game drives and a tour of the Mandela Villa). From R62,950 (£3,689), based on two people sharing. The package is available until March 31 2019.

Cape Town

You can perhaps get no closer to the Mandela story than by talking to one of its eye-witnesses. These might include Manfred Jacobs, a former warden at what is now called Drakenstein Correctional Centre - but was known as Victor Verster Prison when Mandela spent two years here (1988 to 1990).

It was from this facility that Mandela began his "long walk to freedom" - an event that would be beamed across the globe on February 11 1990. Jacobs talks freely about his time at the jail. Indeed, lunch in his company - at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Capetown - is included in the nine-day "Spectacular South Africa" group tour sold by Luxury Gold (0808 149 9444; luxurygoldvacations.com). From £5,150 a head, not including international flights. Three more departures are slated for this year - the next starting on August 24.

London

A restaurant in London is a considerable way from Robben Island in all senses, but the bbar eatery (bbarlondon.com) at the Rubens at the Palace Hotel in Victoria (020 7834 6600; rubenshotel.com; double rooms from £215) is currently offering an unexpected take on the Mandela story.

Throughout July, it is serving up "Tastes from Nelson Mandela’s Kitchen" - a series of dishes that he loved to eat, prepared to recipes designed by his onetime personal chef Xoliswa Ndoyiya. These include an oxtail stew with potato latkes (fritters) for £16, and a tomato lamb bredie (stew), with rice, aubergine and a tomato salad (also £16). For each of these main courses ordered, £1 will be donated to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund UK (mandela-children.org.uk).