The Tibesti Mountains are a range of inactive volcanoes located on the northern edge of the Chad Basin in the Borkou- and Tibesti Region of northern Chad. The massif is one of the most prominent features of the Central-Sahara desert and covers an area of approximately 100,000 km² (39,000 sq mi). The northern slopes extend into southern Libya. It is one of the most isolated areas on Earth and the people called the Tibesti the mountains of hunger, as they can only feed a few people.^{[citation needed]} The biggest city is Bardaï, with only 1,500 residents. The region is a settlement area of the Tubu people and in periods of drought in the lowlands the nomadic Tuareg visit this area.^{[citation needed]}

The mountains are the largest and highest range in the Central Sahara, formed by a volcanic group. Most are inactive volcanoes, but the Smithsonian Institution lists four potentially active volcanos. The toponymy of the Tibesti massif is derived from the Arabic and Teda-daza languages of the Toubou people and is used throughout the region. The term ehi refers to peaks, rocky hills, emi to larger mountains or mountainous regions; ehra to calderas. The term Tarso designates a high plateau or gently-sloping mountainsides; for example the Ehi Mosgau is a 3,100 m (10,200 ft) Stratovolcano with a small summit area, near Tarso Voon. The Ehra Kohor is a caldera on the Emi Koussi summit.

Robert Bauval (born 5 March 1948 in Alexandria, Egypt) is an author, lecturer, and Ancient Egypt researcher, best known for his Orion Correlation Theory.

Bauval was born in Alexandria, Egypt, to parents of Belgian and Maltese origins. He attended the British Boys' School in Alexandria (now El Nasr Boys' School) and the Franciscan College in Buckinghamshire, England. He left Egypt in 1967 just before the Six-Days War during the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser. He has spent most of his engineering career living and working in the Middle East and Africa as a construction engineer.

In late 1992 Bauval had been trying to obtain a translation of Hermetica by Walter Scott. He then came across a new edition printed by Solo Press with a foreword by Adrian Gilbert. Bauval contacted Gilbert after being interested in his foreword concerning a link between an Alexandrine school of Hermes Trismegistus and the pyramid builders of the Fourth dynasty of Egypt. They went on to write The Orion Mystery together, which became an international bestseller.BBC Two broadcast a documentary on Bauval's theories around the time of the book's publication. He has also co-authored three books with Graham Hancock, including a very contentious book on possible artificial structures on Mars (The Mars Mystery - 1998).