President OBAMA Visit Nelson Mandela's Prison Room (PHOTOS)

U.S. President Barack Obama and his family were visiting a former prison island off South Africa on Sunday in tribute to ailing anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela. The visit to Robben Island – the penal colony where Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in jail – was taking place hours ahead of a speech at the University of Cape Town. Obama has already seen Mandela's cell once before, during a visit he made while still a U.S. senator in 2006.

The President and First Lady Michelle Obama made the short but spectacular flight to Robben Island from nearby Cape Town at 1:46 p.m. local time (7:46 a.m. ET). Obama met privately Saturday with relatives of Mandela, who has been in a serious condition in a hospital in Pretoria, near Johannesburg, for three weeks. (SEE PHOTOS)