Some people are quite interested in lions, those same people know how dangerous they can be. Our story takes place in 1898, Africa, Tsavo River. At that time two male lions, nicknamed “The Ghost and the Darkness”, hunted British men that were building a bridge over the Tsavo River. Men are slower and weaker than the lion's natural prey, and made for easy meals over the nine months of construction. This is rather surprising, as in this region, male lions do not like to share power. After killing an estimated 35 to 140 people, workers began to go on strike. In effect John Henry Patterson, one of the people working on the bridge killed both lions and turned them into rugs. As of today, death by lion attack in that same area is common. How many people do you died because of “The Ghost and The Darkness”?
I think it is quite surprising that to this day, getting attacked by a lion near the Tsavo River is a common occurrence. The Arab slaves in Africa apparently used to pass through that river frequently. But the area's death rate was high because of sleeping sickness and the tsetse fly, so the river was many slaves' deathbed. Those bodies were left behind and the corpses were eaten by the lions. That may be why they have a taste for human flesh.
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