In March 1898, two lions began killing and feasting upon construction workers who were building a railway bridge in Kenya's Tsavo region, resulting in up to 135 deaths before these fearsome beasts were finally killed nine months later.
Wikimedia CommonsThe man-eating Tsavo lions on display at the Chicago Field Museum. Note that Tsavo male lions are maneless due to the extreme heat in the region.
In 1898 an estimated 135 Indian and African workers, who were building a railway bridge over the Tsavo river in Kenya, were attacked and eaten by two man-eating lions. Over nine terrifying months, it fell on Lt. Col. John Patterson, the British officer overseeing the bridge’s construction, to track down, outwit and kill the Tsavo lions – a formidable task that almost failed.
To the workers, the man-eaters were not lions but “demons,” ones they called “The Ghost” and “The Darkness”. To Patterson, they were simply lions, with a rational reason for their unnatural taste for human flesh, one that likely came from Tsavo being used as a dumping ground for corpses over the years.
Whatever the cause, Patterson had his work cut out for him. Shortly after his arrival in March, workers started disappearing in the night.
The Tsavo Man-Eaters Terrorize Railway Construction
Wikimedia CommonsMap of British East Africa circa 1907 featured in a book about the Tsavo lions.
On investigation, Patterson found a lion’s “pugmarks,” or footprints, and a trail of marks left by the victim’s heels as he was dragged from his tent across the terrain. Following the trail, he was soon confronted with a gruesome spectacle.
“The ground all-round was covered with blood and morsels of flesh and bones, but the unfortunate jemadar’s head had been left intact…the eyes staring wide open with a startled horrified look in them,” he wrote later, recalling the scene in his book on the traumatic events.
Patterson, with a rifle in hand, spent the night perched in a tree overlooking the deceased jemadar’s tent. Out of the darkness, he heard a lion’s roar in the distance and the panicked cries of people at another camp. But he could do nothing – a pattern that would become all too prevalent.
Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson.
The campsites that housed a couple of thousand men were scattered over too wide of an area for Patterson to patrol, though over the next few months efforts were made to keep the Tsavo lions out of the camps. Boma, or thorny walls made from acacia trees, were erected around campsites, while bonfires blazed all night within the enclosures to keep the lions out.
But the Tsavo lions were persistent. They jumped over or dug under the thorn walls and were unafraid of fire. Brazenly, they snatched men out of their tents and often feasted on them in front of their horrified co-workers.
Soon hundreds of men left following the construction of the railhead as it pushed further beyond Tsavo. The remaining men were concentrated in larger camps around the bridge. With less territory to patrol Patterson was more likely to encounter the lions.
And encounter them he did. His first encounter nearly cost him his life, when a lion stalked him in the dark.
Patterson Hunts Down The Tsavo Lions – But It’s Not Easy
Lt. Col. Patterson posing with the first dead lion.
To increase safety, Patterson built a boxcar trap, with a partition separating the bait from the lion. Upon entry, the lion would stand on a spring, activating the door which would slam shut behind it.
Unfortunately, that failed too. When Patterson used himself as bait the Tsavo lions did not enter. When two Indian soldiers replaced him, they lost their nerve and fired in every other direction than at the trapped lion in front of them. In the confusion, a stray bullet blew away a bar on the door allowing the lion to escape.
The situation was getting desperate. In close to nine months not one of the lions had been killed. Construction of the Tsavo bridge had halted, and most of the workers, who were no longer willing to be cat food, had fled.
But Patterson refused to give in. On Dec. 9 he finally got his chance. After using a donkey carcass as bait he managed to shoot one of the Tsavo lions from a raised platform in a tree. But it had taken two hours to get the shot through the undergrowth, while the well-hidden lion was circling his platform like a shark.
The second lion did not go so easily.
After disappearing for almost two weeks, the lion made a surprise attack on a worker on Dec. 27. Patterson shot it twice, but only injured it. The lion bolted but left a trail of blood for Patterson and his men to follow.
Wikimedia CommonsPatterson lost the second lion for two weeks before hunting him.
They found the lion hiding in a thicket. Now threatened, it charged the men. As it did, Patterson fired four shots into it, but with little effect.
Out of bullets, Patterson was forced to climb a tree with his men, just narrowly escaping the lion. From the tree, Patterson grabbed a rifle from one of his men and shot the lion knocking it to the ground.
The lion was motionless, so Patterson jumped to the ground. As soon as he did, it was on its feet and barrelling towards him. Patterson stood his ground, took aim and fired two shots –one into its chest, the other into its head. Finally, the lion collapsed dead just four meters from him.
After nine months of hell, Patterson had the heads of the Tsavo lions mounted on his wall, and their skins used as his floor rugs for the next twenty-five years.
In 1924, they were sold for $5,000 to the Chicago Field Museum, where they were reassembled, stuffed and put on display, and can be seen to this day.
What Caused The Tsavo Lions To Become Man-Eaters?
Wikimedia CommonsThe skulls of the Tsavo lions now sit in display at the Chicago Field Museum.
Lions near the Tsavo River today do not exhibit man-eating behavior. There are a handful of theories as to why this particular pair of lions acquired this unfortunate habit.
One possibility is the outbreak of a cattle plague in 1898 greatly diminished the population of the lions’ usually prey, leading them to look for alternative sources of food. Another popular theory is the lions may have become used to finding human corpses in the Tsavo River crossing, as caravans from the East African slave trade would regularly move through the region.
It has also been suggested one of the lions may have had a damaged tooth, effecting its ability to hunt its regular game and therefore turning to humans as an alternative. For a long time, this theory wasn’t largely entertained. Patterson himself even denied it, claiming he was the one to damage the lion’s tooth one night when the lion tried to charge at him.
Wikimedia CommonsA view of the modern Tsavo River.
However, a 2017 study found one of the lions did have an infection in his canine tooth.
This particular infection would make it difficult for a lion to hunt his typical prey, as they use their jaw to grab and suffocate animals like zebras or wildebeests. This could cause the lion to turn to easier to hunt prey, such as humans, who are slower and more defenseless against an attack.
No matter the true cause of the Tsavo lions’ behavior, their legacy – and the story of Patterson’s actions – lives on. Patterson himself wrote a semi-autographical book about his encounters with the lions titled, The Man-eaters of Tsavo.
Four separate movies have also been created about the lions, including one in 1952 called Men Against the Sun which was shot on location in Kenya. The most recent film adaptation was 1996’s The Ghost and the Darkness starring Val Kilmer as Patterson.
The railway many workers lost their lives constructing was finally opened in 1901 and is now operated by the Kenya Railways Corporation and the Uganda Railways Corporation.
After learning about the man-eating Tsavo lions, read about the lions that killed the poacher who was hunting them. Then, check out these photos of a lioness nursing an orphaned baby leopard.
