The Journey to the Insimbi Mountains

Zwane and six companions embark on a quest to win the Seed which, when planted, will grow into the scarabs' Tree of Paradise. They have various adventures along the way, including a battle with a colony of termites that has reduced a community of scarabs to starvation, and a visit to a greenhouse and laboratory that has been abandoned by flatfoots (humans) and taken over by scarabs. Finally Zwane and his three remaining companions reach the Insimbi Mountains, beyond which they hope to find the Seed.