Starting on the banks of the Blue Nile in a small riverside port, a ten-year-old boy begins an incredible journey. His parents have been killed by an air raid and he is about to follow his mother's instructions to travel to his Aunt's in Durban. And so the youngster sets out from Suez in Egypt for Durban, South Africa - a distance of 5,000 miles across the African continent. During his travels, he faces several dangers, but soon teams up with a battered old diamond smuggler and big game hunter who is full of stories. Police invade their camp and take away the old man, but the young lad continues his trek through the African jungles.