In Tembo Tabou, Spirou and Fantasio find themselves on another expedition travelling upstream an African river, in search of vanished American author Oliver Gurgling Thirstywell.

Events become increasingly more strange when they discover red elephants, befriend a pygmy tribe, learn of Marsupilami's love of eating warrior ants, and confront a gang of "protection racket" thugs who cultivate meat-eating plants.

The story The Cage chronicles an awful day at work for intrepid poacher Bring M. Backalive, obsessed with capturing a living sample of a baby Marsupilami, who learns the cost of angering a Marsupilami father.

The title story of this album was produced in the period between the making of Spirou et les hommes-bulles and QRN sur Bretzelburg.

[1] The story was later published in Sweden in book form, included in the collected series of Franquin's Spirou.