Without him, the cradle of mankind would perhaps still be a mystery to us today: The German explorer Heinrich Barth advanced far into the interior of the Black Continent at a time when Africa was considered an imponderable and dangerous country. On 25 March 1850, he sets out on a voyage of discovery through Central Africa on behalf of the British government with the aim of establishing trade opportunities for London. After a total of 2100 days in the Sahara and Sudan, five and a half years later, Barth is the only survivor of the expedition to set foot on European soil with information about the country and its people in his luggage, opening up a new continent for European science. In his extensive written legacy, the researcher lets the reader participate in his explorations in linguistically dense descriptions. The diary, written in a haunting style, is a captivating experience.