Spanning some 3500 miles of the African continent, from Ethiopia in the north to Mozambique in the south, the Great Rift Valley is home to an astounding array of flora and fauna, including a great concentration of glassland animals amd three of the world's four great apes: the chimpanzee, bonobo and gorilla. Nigel Pavitt has lived in the region for 45 years and has travelled this wild terrain many times, across salt flats and up ice-capped mountains. He tells the story of the Great Rift Valley's geological evolution, its tribal life, and its exploration and discovery by Europeans, including fascinating characters as Sir Richard Burton, Dr David Livingstone and Henry Stanley.