africa

No doubt it is true. A must for everyone who has seen the movie 'Ghost & the Darkness'. Story of two man eating lions slaughtering railway construction workers in Tsavo, then the British East Africa and how they were eliminated. If you have ever hunted or had a brush with wild cats in the wild you will get the same feeling of nervousness and helplesness again. It is also very informative regardng african tribes and the customs we rarely see even on television these days. The movie was good the book just makes it better.

I have been fascinated with lions for years, so when the movie 'The Ghost and the Darkness' came out, I had to see it. I had heard brief accounts of this story before, and found the movie most fascinating. However, the book told an even more interesting tale than the movie. In my opinion, if the account in the book had been faithfully followed in the film, it would have been even more exciting! Besides the Tsavo man-eaters story, ther are other hair-raising stories about man-eating lions in the book. This book is basically a reprint of the 1097 edition with an excellent preface added. The preface goes into depth about the life of Colonel J.H. Patterson-- a most remarkable man. He went on to other notable adventures in his life after this incident.

Patterson's book on The Man-Eaters of Tsavo is about a pair of notorious lions which feasted on Indian laborers and coolies working for the British government in building railway and bridge over river Tsavo in Uganda, Africa. The lions attacked together or alone, mostly during night by breaking into the tents and carrying away their victims.The account is written by the man who was the engineer in charge and who ultimately shot both lions. The Tsavo lions are very famous, especially in the western world, because these lions really did something audacious : they almost stranded the spread of the British empire in Africa by hampering the building of the Tsavo railway bridge. Before reading this book, I had read Jim Corbett's books on man-eating tigers and leopards in the Indian Himalaya and after reading Corbett's books I have become his fan and taken a deep interest in jungle and animal stories. That's what led me to hunt down this book and buy it. But I was disappointed not only by the style of narration which is quite drab at times, but also by the author's racist attitude and lack of respect towards nature and wildlife. There's none of the passion for nature and flora and fauna that is present in Corbett's books. Instead Patterson refers to animals ( not only the man-eaters but also other innocent lions and hippos and rhinos he shot) as 'brutes' and 'beasts' and 'devils'. Corbett also hunted down a lot of tigers which were not man-eaters. But later he repented and he became a conservationist and spread the message throughout his writings. He was always respectful of nature. On the other hand, Patterson not only lacked respect for animals but also for human beings. A racist attitude rings clearly throughout his writing. He had an inferior tone towards the non-white coolies who worked for him. He also disrespected African tribes and their dance and customs, which at times, he described as 'savage'. This is one great difference with Jim Corbett who was also a white man (Irish), but had great love and respect for Indian villagers and people. If you have read Corbett's books before, you are going to find this not even half as good. I am liberal enough to give it two stars !