Barack Obama and his family are due to visit the stark cell where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison during the apartheid regime.
The US President arrived in Cape Town ahead of his visit to the jail on Robben Island, now preserved as a tribute to the anti-apartheid icon, who is critically ill in hospital.
Mr Obama has been to the prison before, when he was a senator in 2006, but wanted to return with his wife Michelle and daughters.
"For me to be able to bring my daughters there and teach them the history of that place and this country ... that's a great privilege and a great honour," said Mr Obama during his stop in South Africa as part of a three-nation tour.
South Africa's first black president will be the focus of Mr Obama's keynote speech at the University of Cape Town where Robert F Kennedy gave a speech in 1966 linking the struggles against apartheid and the US civil rights movement.
Barack Obama visiting a prison cell as senator in 2006 Mr Obama will use the platform to cite Mr Mandela's unifying legacy as a blueprint for a new generation in emerging Africa.
Pointing to Africa's crippling lack of electrical power, Mr Obama is also expected to announce a $7bn initiative over five years to double access to power in sub-Saharan Africa.
Mr Mandela's illness placed Mr Obama in a tricky political spot, forcing him to balance his desire to push for a new economic relationship with Africa, with the need to properly honour his hero and "personal inspiration".
On Saturday, Mr Obama called Mr Mandela's wife Graca Machel and privately visited several of his daughters and grandchildren to offer support and prayers.
But he did not push for a visit to the Pretoria hospital where the 94-year-old is being treated, worried that he would disturb his peace.
Nelson Mandela visiting his old prison cell in 1995 "I expressed my hope that Madiba draws peace and comfort from the time that he is spending with loved ones," Mr Obama told Mrs Machel according to a statement.
Mrs Machel said she drew "strength from the support" from the Obama family.
After bilateral talks with Mr Obama, South Africa President Jacob Zuma said Mr Mandela remained in a "critical but stable" condition with a recurring lung infection.
Mr Obama has been faulted for lacking a grand programme to benefit Africa like the HIV/Aids initiative launched by George W Bush or the broad reductions of trade barriers achieved by Bill Clinton.
Many Africans have been disappointed at what they see as Mr Obama's hands-off approach to the continent, noting that his first extended trip the continent has not come until his second term in office despite his African ancestry.
Mr Obama's father was a native of Kenya.
The president's aides say he has been held back by the need to wind down two wars and to right the US economy after the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
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