This is an exploration of the Inca tribe and their heartland, resurrecting vividly their extraordinary culture, and giving a true flavour of their strange and sometimes hostile world. The lost cities of South America have always exercised a powerful hold on the imagination. The ruins of the Incas and other pre-Colombian civilisations are scattered over thousands of miles of still largely uncharted territory, particularly in the hinterland of the Amazon where it lifts up towards the Andes. Following in the footsteps of great explorers, Hugh Thomson sets off into the jungle on foot to find the lost city of Llactapat. This is the starting point of a remarkable journey into the Eastern Andes of Peru, bringing to life the culture of the Incas and their strange and often hostile world. On the way we hear tales of some of the men who preceded him - Hiram Bingham, Robert Nichols and Gene Savoy - as Thomson weaves a history of South American exploration into a narrative that sheds new light upon a mysterious, alien culture.