Wilbur Smith · 1972 · overland

Wilbur Smith's 1972 adventure. From a single blurred aerial photograph, the archaeologist Ben Kazin and his rich patron Louren Sturvesant mount an expedition into the wilds of Botswana to find Opet - a lost city built by refugees from fallen Carthage two thousand years ago. But the ancient curse that guards the hills of blood is real, and the past will not stay buried.

1. 1
   Johannesburg

   Armed with a blurred aerial photograph and a theory, the archaeologist Ben Kazin and his friend Louren Sturvesant mount an expedition to prove that a lost civilisation once flourished in the African interior.

2. 2
   Maun

   Flying north to Maun on the edge of the Okavango, they outfit the expedition and strike out for the empty country beyond, guided by little more than a smudge on a photograph and Kazin's stubborn conviction.

3. 3
   The Kalahari

   Deep in the Kalahari, at the foot of blood-red cliffs the local people call cursed, Kazin and his team labour through weeks of heat and hardship - and unearth the first haunting proof of the buried city they seek.

4. 4
   Opet

   Beneath the cliffs lies Opet, a city raised by refugees from fallen Carthage two thousand years before - and as its secrets are laid bare, an ancient curse and the ghosts of its violent end reach into the present.