The Man-Eaters of Tsavo and Other East African Adventures

by John Henry Patterson, D Cook (Illustrator)

My own long experience of African hunting told me at once that every word in this thrilling narrative was absolutely true. Nay I knew that the author had told his story in a most modest manner, laying but little stress on the dangers he had run when sitting up at nights to try and compass the death of the terrible man-eaters, especially on that one occasion when whilst watching from a very light scaffolding, supported only by four rickety poles, he was himself stalked by one of the dread beasts.

Fortunately he did not lose his nerve, and succeeded in shooting the lion, just when it was on the point of springing upon him. But had this lion approached him from behind, I think it would probably have added Col. Patterson to its long list of victims, for in my own experience I have known of three instances of men having been pulled from trees or huts built on platforms at a greater height from the ground than the crazy structure on which Col. Patterson was watching on that night of terrors.

Genres: Nonfiction, Africa, Adventure

162 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 6, 2016

About the author

Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Patterson, DSO, known as J.H. Patterson, was an Anglo-Irish soldier, hunter, author and Zionist, best known for his book The Man-Eaters of Tsavo (1907), which details his experiences while building a railway bridge over the Tsavo river in Kenya in 1898-99.

Although he was himself a Protestant, he became a major figure in Zionism as the commander of both the Zion Mule Corps and of the 38th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers (aka Jewish Legion of the British Army) in World War One. He ultimately achieved the rank of Lt. Colonel, and retired from the British Army in 1920. Patterson was a strong supporter of the establishment of a separate Jewish state in the Middle East, which was realized with the statehood of Israel on May 14, 1948, less than a year after his death.

Patterson died at the age of eighty. He was living in California at the time.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

The true and gripping story of a man who was sent to build the railroad in Africa but who was threatened by two lions who kept eating part of his crew. He tells the tale of tracking and killing these lions. He then proceeds to tell many other adventure stories of his hunts after various kinds of African animals.

[Anthony Patten · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to rate this higher because the first third of the book is quite an astonishing and fascinating read. By all means, read the first third. But the last two thirds are a boring collection of tales about a colonialist shooting dozens of now endangered African mammals. Im not blaming Patterson for being a creature of his time, I'm blaming him for being boring as dirt. The focus of this story should be the lions, not the narrator. The fact that Patterson doesn't appear to notice this says something about him.

The Man-eaters of Tsavo themselves are, as always, fascinating. Over a hundred railway workers are massacred by two male lions, nicknamed The Ghost and The Darkness -- incidentally the title of a 1990s adventure movie that most viewers are shocked to learn is a true story. That part of the book is amazing.

Overall, the movie got it right. The story ends when the second man-eater dies. Everything else is dull.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beginning of the book about the two lions was terrifying. They had no fear of humans and would go into tents full of adult men at night and drag one out into the bush to feed on. It took so long to kill them because John Patterson had to cover miles of camp (think it was 8 miles) and the lions never attacked in the same place twice. You could hear the screams at night when the lions attacked, but it was far too dangerous to travel at night to shot the lions. Patterson would often spend his nights in trees if he couldn't make it back to camp in time. The rest of the book was not as interesting. The book I read was close to 400 pages.

[Rachel M Paley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the actual man eaters portion, but that's only the first maybe third. The rest of the book is a lot of trophy hunting that was hard to get through, which is unfortunate because without such a focus on that piece the rest of the stories could have been interesting.

[Terry Renfrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for anyone interested in big-game hunting.