The former house and surrounding gardens of former South African president and anti-apartheid revolutionary Nelson Mandela is now accepting reservations after being transformed into an inn.
The ex-abode and current business venture is a living gallery in honor of the political leader who died at the age of 95 in 2013. Sanctuary Mandela offers not only lodging but also features a restaurant with a Mandela-inspired menu and the walls throughout are decorated with memorabilia in tribute to South Africa’s first black head of state.
Sanctuary Mandela has nine rooms and will run visitors from $260 per night to nearly $1,000 for the Presidential Suite, which is located in the icon’s former bedroom. The philanthropist lived at the property — his first house in Johannesburg after he was released from 27 years of imprisonment — for six years, from 1992 to 1998. During this time, he hosted a great variety of famous guests at the address, from Bill Clinton to supermodel Naomi Campbell.
Up to 18 guests can stay at the home-turned-hotel at a time.
The home was Mandela’s first in Johannesburg following his imprisonment.AFP via Getty ImagesA menu on the restaurant kitchen’s wall. The menu items are inspired by Mandela’s own favorite meals, and prepared by his longtime chef Xolisa Ndoyiya.AFP via Getty ImagesXoliswa Ndoyiya, Mandela’s chef of 18 years and a cookbook author, poses for a portrait in the hotel’s kitchen.AFP via Getty ImagesThe hotel’s grand Presidential Suite.AFP via Getty ImagesA staff member working at the Sanctuary Mandela hotel.AFP via Getty ImagesManager of the Sanctuary Mandela boutique hotel Dimitri Maritz walks along a corridor featuring memorabilia from the civil rights leader’s life.AFP via Getty Images
At the new lodge’s restaurant, visitors are presented with a menu inspired by Mandela’s own favorite meals, and prepared by his longtime chef Xoliswa Ndoyiya.
“You couldn’t go wrong with Tata [Mandela] when you give him vegetables, but it must be a variety of vegetables, because he will tell you that . . . there must be color of the vegetables on the plate,” Ndoyiya, who cooked for Mandela and his family for two decades, told Reuters. “He loved very much oxtail stew of which right now here we are having a ravioli, taken from the oxtail stew, so we made it a ravioli.”
Earlier this year, a planned auction of Mandela’s possessions — including the key to his prison cell on the infamous Robben Island — was called off amid controversy. The South African Heritage Resources Agency contacted the president of the auction house to say the items were “potential national treasures” and needed permits to leave South Africa, it was reported at the time.
Hidden on a quiet street in a wealthy Johannesburg suburb, the former home of Nelson Mandela is now a boutique hotel.AFP via Getty ImagesOne of Sanctuary Mandela hotel’s Mandela-inspired dishes.AFP via Getty ImagesCustomers eating at the hotel’s restaurant.AFP via Getty ImagesOne of the hotel’s nine rooms.AFP via Getty ImagesAn aerial shot of the property.AFP via Getty ImagesThe Cape Malay-style fish dish at the hotel’s restaurant.AFP via Getty ImagesFormer South African President Nelson Mandela’s personal chef and now chef at the Sanctuary Mandela restaurant, Xoliswa Ndoyiya (left).AFP via Getty ImagesA client enjoys a drink at the bar in the Sanctuary Mandela hotel.AFP via Getty ImagesChef Xoliswa Ndoyiya preparing a dish at the hotel.AFP via Getty ImagesSouth African anti-apartheid revolutionary and former South African president Nelson Mandela in 2008.REUTERS
