Throughout the world Nelson Mandela is held in high regard and revered for his role in the struggle against apartheid. His story often picks up from his arrival in Johannesburg, when he joins the African National Congress to begin his political journey. But we seldom hear of the young Mandela, his formative years and his life in the Eastern Cape. With this in mind the Nelson Mandela Route Tour gives visitors a look into Mandela’s world that goes deeper than his public image to provide a glimpse of how he spent his early years and help piece together the sequence of events that would lead him to leave the Eastern Cape for Johannesburg.

En route to our first stop, the Bityi Train Station, our guide gives us a crash course on the history of East London, particularly the impact of British and German influence. At the train station we learn more about Nelson Mandela’s motivations for leaving the Eastern Cape for Johannesburg. Contrary to what most people might imagine, the young Mandela fled the Eastern Cape because of an arranged marriage arranged for him by Chief Dalindyebo of the AbaThembu clan, who was acting according to custom. Mandela had just returned for the holidays from Fort Hare University, where he had been studying towards a law degree. The news shocked him and his cousin Justice Mtirara who was also expected to take a bride. Our second stop is the community of Qunu where Mandela spent some of his early years. He moved here from Mveso where he was born and would come to regard Qunu as his home, and where he would be laid to rest at the end of his life. As we pass the Kei River Bridge, which used to be the Transkei and Ciskei border we learn about the two apartheid homelands and some of the other political heavyweights the Eastern Cape has nurtured. Amongst them, are great leaders such as Chris Hani, Steve Biko and Goven Bheki (father of former president, Thabo Mbeki).

We arrive at the Nelson Mandela Museum in Qunu that gives a comprehensive impression of the world icon’s life and political fight. We also discover that Nelson Mandela's father Gadla Henry Mphakanyisa emphasised education above all else and wanted his son to receive a good mission school education. Mandela received this education because his father was a former chief who dropped from his chieftainship, but was still a valued counsel to the AbaThembu Kings (Dalindyebo and Jongintaba). The mission school Mandela attended was only accessible to black people of royal descent such as local chiefs and kings because they were the only ones who could afford to send their children there.

As we drive through Mveso, the village where Mandela was born, we come to appreciate just how ordinary a man he was, and the extraordinary events that would make him a world icon. We realise how through a series of events a young man from Mvezo could rise from his ambitions to be counsel to the AbaThembu King to being one of the main protagonists in his country’s liberation from an oppressive regime, and in so doing inspire the whole world.