博客來In 1973, the Rhodesian Bush War raged as hot as the deserts and jungles where it took place. Many African factions wanted to take control of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe from the European colonialists. But one man was willing to do whatever it took to drive the whites from his country, no matter how brutal or atrocious. He had the support of the people and the ability to slip over the borders at will. And his chances of becoming the president of Zimbabwe grew every day. He called himself iLunga, in Zulu, the name for a species of Shrike more commonly known as a Jackie Hangman or Butcher Bird.
Sion Michael, a South African fighting for Rhodesia and a member of the Selous Scouts, an elite group of soldiers considered the most lethal and efficient counter-terrorist specialists in Africa. Sion was the leader of an elite group of Zulu trackers who took on the guise of the enemy. He and his team called themselves Uvemvane, which means Butterflies in Zulu; the reason was their uncanny ability to move through the bush and forests silently and leave no trace behind.
Authorized to operate outside of Rhodesian borders, their prime objective was to find iLunga and prevent him from arming thousands of followers waiting in camps in Mozambique and Zambia.
Sion, a man who came to Rhodesia to fight someone else’s war, could not have anticipated how deeply personal his fight with iLunga would become. Little did he know their paths were destined to cross in a way that would change the course of the war and their lives forever.
