Study: Man-eating lions consumed 35 people...

[Stecal]

... in 1898

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20091102/D9BNM3CO0.html

"The nightly attacks by two man-eating lions terrified railway workers and brought construction to a halt in one of east Africa's most notorious onslaughts more than a hundred years ago. But the death toll, scientists now say, wasn't as high as previously thought.

Over nine months the two voracious hunters claimed 35 lives - no small figure, but much less than some accounts of as many as 135 victims.

It was 1898, when laborers from India and local natives building the Uganda Railroad across Kenya became the prey for the pair, a case that has been the subject of numerous accounts and at least three movies.

They noted that estimates of the death toll reported at the time ranged from 28 reported by the Ugandan Railway Company, to 135, claimed by Lt. Col. John H. Patterson, a British officer who killed the lions in December, 1898"

There is a wargame in there.

[Plynkes]

There is a wargame in there.

Indeed there is. The man-eaters of Tsavo are old friends of the LAF, Grimm and others have done projects inspired by them. A bit of rooting around in the archives of Colonial Adventures and you'll find some pics, I fancy. Personally I've been fascinated by them ever since childhood, when I was given a book of true-life adventure stories which included them, complete with heroic illustrations of clean-cut Britons with inspiring moustaches taking the beggars on. Thanks for posting the article. 

[Hammers]

I think the film 'The Ghost and the Darkness' was 'based on [this] true story'. It was a bit shit, as I recall, as they got a lot of things wrong and Val Kilmer overdid his British accent something awful.

[Plynkes]

Indeed. I could never get around Michael Douglas' appearance in that picture. He looked far too shabby and unkempt, as my view of what he should look like had been imprinted by my childhood reading many years earlier. The chaps in that book always had brylcreemed hair and perfectly-trimmed and waxed moustaches. Never a hair out of place, even while being savaged by a lion.

By contrast he looked like some kind of a hobo crossed with a cowboy. Put me off the film entirely.

[Hammers]

Indeed. I could never get around Michael Douglas' appearance in that picture. He looked far too shabby and unkempt, as my view of what he should look like had been imprinted by my childhood reading many years earlier. The chaps in that book always had brylcreemed hair and perfectly-trimmed moustaches. Never a hair out of place, even while being savaged by a lion.

By contrast he looked like some kind of a hobo crossed with a cowboy. Put me off the film entirely.

That cave full of skulls and femurs was dramatic but ridiculous. Indiana Jones can get away that but it was not that kind of film.

[Cory]

I have read that the cave in question had been a burial site that the lions had occupied after it had been looted and the bones strewn about by the looters. The bones supposedly accounted for part of the high estimate.

[former user]

interestin enough, we have this game upcoming in our club

I'll post pictures

[Leapsnbounds]

This is rather debunking of the image and story that I have of the Tsavo Lions.

[Dr X]

Consuming 35 people seems a stretch. Sure when I was younger, but now I can barely finish three. Oh wait... what...   

[P_Clapham]

Consuming 35 people seems a stretch. Sure when I was younger, but now I can barely finish three. Oh wait... what...   

I hear you on that.  It occurs to me this may be a "bones and all scenario*".















*bones being well known as high in fiber.

[Gallowglass]

I think the film 'The Ghost and the Darkness' was 'based on [this] true story'. It was a bit shit, as I recall, as they got a lot of things wrong and Val Kilmer overdid his British accent something awful.

Considering that Patterson (the character played by Kilmer) was Irish (or Anglo-Irish, if you prefer), I agree. He was born in what is now County Longford.

As a "historical document" the film is pretty much complete pants. As something entertaining that might inspire one to paint up some lions and a few lads with guns, it worked.