Long walk's final destination as Nelson Mandela is laid to rest
Family, friends and dignitaries attend the state funeral service, but final rites for man who meant so much to millions were a private affair
Songs, speeches and the boom of artillery rang across Nelson Mandela's home village as a tribal chief draped in animal skin declared: "A great tree has fallen."
The Nobel peace laureate was laid to rest at his ancestral home in Qunu after a send-off combining military pomp with the traditional rites of his Xhosa abaThembu clan. Before the burial, family, friends and dignitaries attended the state funeral service in a huge domed tent, its interior draped in black, in a field near Mandela's homestead.
Ahmed Kathrada, an anti-apartheid activist who was jailed on Robben Island with Mandela, remembered his old friend's "abundant reserves" of love, patience and tolerance. He said it was painful when he saw Mandela for the last time, months ago in his hospital bed.
"He tightly held my hand, it was profoundly heartbreaking," Kathrada said, his voice breaking at times. "How I wish I never had to confront what I saw. I first met him 67 years ago and I recall the tall, healthy strong man, the boxer, the prisoner who easily wielded the pick and shovel when we couldn't do so.
"We can salute you as a fighter for freedom. Farewell my dear brother, my mentor, my leader."