On the occasion of what would have been Nelson Mandela's 100th birthday, 18 July 2018, it seems right that we acknowledge and pay tribute to the role our late former chairman, Sir Anthony Reeve (Tony), played in the historic years after Mandela's release from prison in 1991 and him becoming President of the Republic of South Africa in 1994. Tony was our parent company’s chairman from our inception in 1999 to his death in 2015. He was also the British Ambassador in South Africa from 1991 to 1995. He often relayed stories of his meetings - both formal and informal - with Mandela which he fondly recalled were often interspersed with laughter and always the genial twinkle in those piercing eyes that bore the trials of so many years. Tony was given Mandela’s direct telephone number and soon learned that the best time to get hold of him was very early in the morning as he still kept to the waking time he had endured in prison for those twenty-seven years.

Tony wrote in his tribute to him when he died, "Nelson had a natural charm and despite his many year's loss of liberty he was blessed with a generosity of spirit which he shared with all he met - even those of the apartheid regime that had incarcerated him for all those years. Everyone was touched by his irresistible charm and that wide, incorrigible smile."

Mandela's influence still has a profound effect on South African politics and even its way of life. Visitors are able to see his birthplace, where he grew up, his old home in Soweto, his prison cell on Robben Island and his numerous memorials. All have rightly become attractions - pilgrimages to some - that visitors often look to include in their itineraries. We can help with creating an itinerary to meet your clients’ needs. We are also proud to offer the unique and moving opportunity to spend time with Mandela’s former prison warder, Christo Brand. Just call and ask.

We are extremely proud of our close, long-standing and yes, loving, relationship with South Africa. But we are doubly proud that our own respected late Chairman, Tony Reeve, was so involved with South Africa's transition and his own personal relationship with one of modern history's great heroes. Happy 100th Birthday Mr Mandela.