The Man-Eating Lions of Tsavo
WORLD HISTORY | June 19, 2019
The Tsavo man-eaters on display in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois. Source: (Wikimedia)
Being eaten by lions is usually the subject of nightmares without any basis in reality. But in late nineteenth century Kenya, nightmares became reality. Regardless of your opinion about hunting and wildlife, the grisly story that follows touches humanity’s most visceral fears.
In 1888, the British had taken control of East Africa (later renamed Kenya). In order to consolidate its imperial grip on the territory, the British government planned to build a railway that would link the interiors of Kenya and Uganda to the port of Mombasa on the Indian Ocean.
To facilitate the project, the British sent numerous army personnel to oversee the job. One of these officers was Lieutenant Colonel James Henry Patterson, who arrived in the territory on March 1, 1898. Patterson headed to the interior of Tsavo to oversee the work of Indian laborers in constructing a bridge over the Tsavo River.
It was wild country, Mount Kilimanjaro was in sight and there were a plethora of the big game animals that Africa is famous for elephant, giraffe, ostrich, and lion.
To prevent lion attacks, the workers established elaborate fences, or stockades called boma, made of the thorny vegetation of the region.
Within the first few days after Patterson’s arrival, reports of lion attacks started coming in. Men were disappearing. Men were disappearing. Then finally, a direct witness reported to Patterson that a large, maneless, male lion had thrust its head in a tent and seized a fellow worker by the throat and dragged him off.
Immediately, Patterson set off with a companion to track the animal. They followed pools of blood to a grisly sight. Patterson wrote:
"The ground all round was covered with blood and morsels of flesh and bones, but the unfortunate [workman’s] head had been left intact, save for the holes made by the lion's tusks on seizing him, and lay a short distance away from the other remains, the eyes staring wide open with a startled, horrified look in them. The place was considerably cut up, and on closer examination, we found that two lions had been there and had probably struggled for possession of the body. It was the most gruesome sight I had ever seen. We collected the remains as well as we could and heaped stones on them, the head with its fixed, terrified stare seeming to watch us all the time, for it we did not bury but took back to camp for identification before the Medical Officer."
Patterson, who was an able hunter, felt it was his mission to kill the two “brutes.”
Then in the fall, the lions returned. In the dead of night, they broke through a boma and seized a worker. Despite wild gunfire and firebrands, the lion dragged the man through the boma and ate him some 30 yards from the fence.
Patterson was frustrated and the Indian workmen were reportedly opining that these were not normal lions. Patterson reported, “...the workmen firmly believed that they were not real animals at all, but devils in lions' shape. Many a time the coolies solemnly assured me that it was absolutely useless to attempt to shoot them. They were quite convinced that the angry spirits of two departed native chiefs had taken this form in order to protest against a railway being made through their country, and by stopping its progress to avenge the insult thus shown to them."
The lions grew bolder. The lions had changed tactics by now. Instead of one lion coming through the enclosure at a time, two came in, each seizing a victim.
They seemed to have no fear of human presence.
On one occasion, Patterson recalled the lions dragging a victim from the railroad station near to his camp. "I could plainly hear them crunching the bones, and the sound of their dreadful purring filled the air and rang in my ears for days afterward. The terrible thing was to feel so helpless; it was useless to attempt to go out, as of course, the poor fellow was dead, and in addition, it was so pitch dark as to make it impossible to see anything."
What unnerved the men were the roars grew nearer and nearer in the night. Then silence fell. The lions were stalking them. The workmen cried, “Beware, brothers, the devil is coming.” Shrieks followed. Another man would be missing in the morning.
Patterson’s efforts seemed fruitless. He was frustrated.
By early December 1898, the lions had managed to bring the work to a standstill. The Indian workers struck and left stating that they had agreed to work on a railroad for the British government, not to supply food for lions.
Officers came to help Patterson. In one bizarre instance, they created a lion trap where soldiers were used as bait in a separate, secure compartment to attract the lion. One of the man-eaters entered the trap but they were so panicked by the thrashing mad lion that they didn’t fire their rifles at first. Then when they did so, they fired wildly, missed the lion shot the bar holding him in the cage and accidentally released him.
Patterson commented, “the Indians were more than ever confirmed in their belief that the lions were really evil spirits, proof against mortal weapons. Certainly, they did seem to bear charmed lives.”
By early December 1898, the lions had managed to bring the work to a standstill. The Indian workers struck and left stating that they had agreed to work on a railroad for the British government, not to supply food for lions.
Officers came to help Patterson. In one bizarre instance, they created a lion trap where soldiers were used as bait in a separate, secure compartment to attract the lion. One of the man-eaters entered the trap but they were so panicked by the thrashing mad lion that they didn’t fire their rifles at first. Then when they did so, they fired wildly, missed the lion shot the bar holding him in the cage and accidentally released him.
Patterson commented, “the Indians were more than ever confirmed in their belief that the lions were really evil spirits, proof against mortal weapons. Certainly, they did seem to bear charmed lives.”
Finally, on December 8, it was reported that one of the lions was feeding on a donkey. Patterson sensing the opportunity gathered all the men he could find and gathered pots, pans, and anything that could make a noise.
They hurried to the spot making a clamor. The lion became distracted which allowed Patterson enough time to perch himself in a tree. He had a clear shot. He fired his gun.
The weapon misfired.
It took a moment for the amazed Patterson to gather his wits. He fired another shot just as the lion leaped away into the jungle. He was pretty sure he hit him, but the creature had vanished.
Patterson then decided to build a hunting scaffold by the donkey, believing that the lion would return to finish its meal. He climbed up into the rickety structure and waited alone into the night of December 9.
The lion returned. But instead of eating the donkey, the lion started stalking Patterson. The flimsy staging which held him high in the air would not hold if the lion rammed it. It was a long stand-off, or at least Patterson perceived it to be so. He wrote that he felt “creepy.” But finally, he fired his weapon. It hit and with a terrific roar the lion disappeared into the jungle. It was found the next day dead, to the elation of all the men.
The second lion was trapped twenty days later. The animal took several shots before running off into the forest. The next day, Patterson and his men tracked him. They found the lion alive, wounded and angry. It attempted to charge Patterson and three shots hit. But the lion still came at him. He ended up sending Patterson and his companion up into a tree. Patterson fired two more shots to finish him off.
Patterson wrote that the lions had killed no less than 28 Indian workers and “scores” of unknown native Africans. Later, Patterson would inflate this statistic to over 100. Modern research has shown that it probably up to 31 victims, though the true number will never be conclusively proven.
Patterson would go on to write a book about his time in Africa entitled The Man-Eaters of Tsavo. The two lion skins, which were converted to floor rugs by Patterson, he sold to Chicago’s Field Museum in 1924 for $5,000. The curators reconstructed the bodies and the famous pair are on permanent display.
There is some debate as to what drove the lions to attack humans. Some theories were because of lack of its normal food supply or that they had taken to eating human corpses found on the nearby trade routes. One recent study showed that one of the lions was suffering from a dental infection which may have required it to go for easier prey.
Whatever the case, the story of the Tsavo lions is one of the most chilling in history.
