This is the remarkable story of Rene Caillie, a young Frenchman, who in 1828 became the first European to reach the unknown, sacred city of Timbuctoo and escape alive. His is one of the most extraordinary adventures ever undertaken. But his journey was so impossibly dangerous that for years his account was dismissed as a fabrication. In 1934-35 Galbraith Welch set out to prove the truth of Caille's incredible journey. To do so she retraced his path and here recounts the fact of his thrilling travels.