Rhodesia and with it, Cry of the Fish Eagle, is one hell of a story:
The African Bush, big game, pioneer farming, prospecting and the tragedy of civil war.
This is the story of Rupert Pengelly who first heard the Cry of the Fish Eagle when he was stationed in Rhodesia for six months during the Second World War. As he was to find and as the saying goes, once you have heard the Cry of the Fish Eagle, you will always come back to Africa!
It is during that first six months, Rupert searches for Sasa, the orphaned daughter of his friend, Rigby Savage. Rupert was honouring a promise made to Rigby to care for Sasa if anything did happen to him. To complicate the search, Sasa's eccentric grandfather, Kobus Loubser, had taken the young orphan into the bush prospecting for emeralds.
The search is unsuccessful and Rupert returns to the war, with intentions afterwards of farming the family estate in Cornwall. However a distant cousin, George Geake, conspires to cheat him out of his inheritance and Rupert loses his beloved home. His only option is to return to Rhodesia to begin a new life as a tobacco farmer and to continue his search for Sasa.
Although their destinies are bound together, it is many years before Rupert and Sasa meet but meanwhile, Kobus acquires a business partner in Lewdly Jones, a remittance man, who develops a passion for Sasa.
The years pass and Rupert triumphs over adversity. But another war is looming. The irrepressible tide of Black Nationalism is sweeping through Africa and a new generation of men like Tererai Ndoro and Lovemore Ngwenya have joined the struggle for Zimbabwe. All their lives are about to change forever. But still, they are all enslaved by the Cry of the Fish Eagle.
READ this captivating story because in reading it you too will become enslaved by the Cry of the Fish Eagle, the country of Zimbabwe and its people.