In het gebied van het Tsadmeer met de expeditie Tilho De Aarde en haar Volken, 1910

The narrative follows a multinational expedition of 1906‑07, sent by Britain and France to settle the newly‑agreed border between the Niger River and the great lake to its east. Led by Captain Tilho and accompanied by engineers, doctors, geologists and linguists, the team sets out from the coastal town of Cotonou, travels upriver to Gaya, and then pushes into the remote valleys that link the Niger to the lake. Along the way they must survive harsh winter conditions while preparing to map the region and catalogue its wildlife, minerals and peoples.

In the first act the explorers meet the Goberaoea, a community that claims ancient ties to Egypt and that employs a simple shadoof‑style water pump for irrigating cotton and grain. Their portable, thatch‑walled huts rest on a lightweight timber frame, allowing whole villages to be moved at a moment’s notice. These vivid observations of daily life, technology and the landscape set the stage for a larger scientific and geopolitical story that unfolds beyond the opening pages.