— Ancient Africa —

The old heart of Gondwana. 

You can leave Africa but Africa won't leave you, is a well known African proverb that has proved to be true for Africans and non-Africans alike. Africa exerts an attraction that cannot be explained by logical reasoning. From the sweltering humid tropics to eroded volcanoes to the leached red earth of the savannah, it is a mysterious, complex and beautiful place on earth. As journalist Ryszard Kapuściński wrote in his book Ebony, Africa does not exist, it is a multitude of peoples, myths, landscapes, stories, traditions. So it is with Africa's geology and natural history.

Read:

• Land bridges in the Middle East: Red Sea, Tethys and wandering hominids.
• The Great Rift Valley of East Africa: a belt of natural wonders.
• The Zambezi and the Smoke-that-thunders: how rivers change their course.
• Plate tectonics: caterpillar tracks of the planet.
• My little moment with Jane Goodall: an unlikely encounter.
• The great bend of the Niger River: two separate rivers in the past.
• Africa: the long voyage of an ancient continent.