The Man Eaters of Tsavo

When one hears about the man-eaters of Tsavo, an image of marauding lions rampaging through villages in Africa immediately comes to mind. In fact, it is sometimes quite innocently assumed that all lions in the Tsavo National Park are man-eaters. Nothing can be further from the truth, but going by documented evidence, the man-eaters of Tsavo were a pair of male lions that wreaked havoc during the construction of a railway bridge across the Tsavo River toward the end of the 19th century, the victims being primarily Indian workers.

The combined total area of Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Parks is a little over 18,000 km2 of a savannah ecosystem located midway between Nairobi and Mombasa. These two parks boast of all the "Big Five" as well as zebra, giraffe, crocodile and hundreds of bird species. It is here that some of the Indian rail workers, imported to construct the Kenya-Uganda Railway in the late 1890'S, met their fate. Estimates vary as to the number dragged from their tents in the middle of the night to certain death. Patterson, famously known as the head of the railway construction project and the one who ultimately killed the lions, claims in his accounts that the dead number 135, but more scientific estimates that have since been conducted put this figure at a conservative 35.

The true number of devoured Indian workers and the reason for the attacks has never been clearly ascertained. Nevertheless, certain theories have been put forward. First, there may have been an outbreak of rinderpest disease, wiping out whole populations of prey that the lions depended on. Another theory is that lions became acclimatized to the sight and taste of human remains found floating in the Tsavo River, either caused by Hindu cremations, or the remains of dead slaves; Tsavo was along the slave caravan route.

Whatever the cause of this behavior, or the uncertainty surrounding the numbers who were killed by the two man-eating lions, what is certain is that the two lions, along with the books and documentaries that chronicle this episode in Kenya's history, have boosted travel and tourism to the park and the name of the country as a top tourism destination. Numerous lodges, bandas, guest houses, and campsites now dot both parks, providing accommodation to tourists who wish to view the game, explore the many caves, or simply camp in the wilderness of the Tsavo.

Fred Mucai is the owner of http://www.greaterkenya.com which features new and exciting tour destination packages to the East African Region

Article Source: Fred_Mucai

Subscribe to Discover the world of travel with the Unique Travel Blog by Email