Being Dead Serious podcast
Episode 76:
The Man-Eaters of Tsavo
Is now available.
The "Man-Eaters of Tsavo" tells the wild, slightly horrifying story of two lions who decided they'd had it with their regular antelope diet and thought, "Why not sample the new buffet humans are setting up?" This all went down in 1898 in Kenya, where British engineers and local laborers were building a railway through Tsavo. Little did they know, they were about to become the ultimate “tasting menu” for these two ambitious big cats.
The episode recounts Lieutenant Colonel John Henry Patterson's unlucky gig as the guy hired to keep the lions away. Spoiler alert: it didn’t go well. Between sleep-deprived nights spent trying to protect his workers and the rising body count, Patterson was left to face two lions with some serious snacking ambitions. Picture him setting up elaborate traps and spending nights in trees, likely muttering something British under his breath about "absolute nuisance" while dodging lion paws.
The episode explores theories on why these lions decided to become Tsavo's very own fast-food critics, from "maybe they had bad teeth" to "they just really hated British food." With tongue-in-cheek commentary and eyebrow-raising facts, this episode turns one of the deadliest wildlife tales about two lions who saw an all-you-can-eat opportunity and a Colonel who probably wished he’d taken a safer job.
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