From a young age, he was bitten by the bug of discovery. On behalf of France, Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza travels through Gabon, Angola, Algeria, the Congo, the shores of Lake Tanganyika, and to Zanzibar. Brazza becomes a national hero. When he later encounters the brutal tyranny of colonial regimes, his report is locked away in the ministry's safe. Brazza was the only one of the great "explorers" who did not turn a blind eye to injustice. Patrick Deville traces his footsteps through the Congo Basin, recounting the contemporaries Livingston and Stanley, as well as Albert Schweitzer and his piano, Patrice Lumumba, Joseph Conrad, Mobutu, and visits Humphrey Bogart on the set of "African Queen.".