Zusammenfassung
Zusammenfassung von Die Menschenfresser von Tsavo
Go deeper: the whole of Die Menschenfresser von Tsavo
About 4 h 20 min to read.Für wen es gedacht ist
You will love this book if you enjoy true adventure, big-game and frontier stories, or railway tales told in a lively first-person voice by a man who met real danger.
Worum es in diesem Buch geht
Picture a railway camp in East Africa in 1898. Thousands of workers sleep behind thorn fences, with fires burning all night. Even so, every few nights a man disappears from his tent. Two lions are hunting them.
The Man-Eaters of Tsavo is the account of J. H. Patterson, the young engineer sent to bridge the Tsavo River for the Uganda Railway. He wrote it in 1907 and says he toned the facts down. You get nine months of terror, a bridge that rose in spite of it, and the railhead crossing the plains.
In dieser Zusammenfassung
- 1A young engineer lands in MombasaFree
- 2Two lions begin to hunt the camps
- 3Fences fail and a night in the wagon
- 4The bridge rises through trouble and mutiny
- 5The reign of terror and the great exodus
- 6Two nights, two lions, and a silver bowl
- 7Hippos, escarpments and the man-eaters' den
- 8Peoples of the road and lessons in tracking
- 9Railhead, rhinos and lions on the plains
- 10Shikar ends in loss, and the book looks back
Punkt 1 von 10
A young engineer lands in Mombasa
Patterson arrives at Mombasa on March 1, 1898, appointed to the construction staff of the Uganda Railway. He waits a week for orders, pitching his tent near Kilindini and buying supplies for a stay inland.
Then a letter sends him to Tsavo, about 132 miles inland. He rides up in a special train and crosses the Taru Desert, a country of red dust and scrub.
His first night is spent in a palm hut with stars showing through the roof. Next morning he climbs a hill and sees only thorn and stunted trees, cut by the railway strip and the swift river. Several thousand workers are camped nearby, and he starts ordering tools and materials.
The story begins with ordinary work in an unknown land, and the lions arrive to break it.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
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Go deeper: the whole of Die Menschenfresser von Tsavo
About 4 h 20 min to read.Who’s who
- John Henry Patterson
- John Henry Patterson is the British engineer overseeing the railway bridge and protecting his workers from two predatory lions.
- Two lions
- Two maneless male lions prey on the railway workers and become the targets of Patterson's watchful pursuit.
- Railway workers
- The railway workers, many brought from India, build the line under Patterson while facing attacks around their camps.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 68,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 4 h 35 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 13 other languages
Questions about Die Menschenfresser von Tsavo
What is The Man-Eaters of Tsavo about?
It is J. H. Patterson's own account of building a railway bridge at Tsavo in East Africa in 1898, while two lions killed and ate workers and stopped the work, followed by his later hunts and travels.
Is The Man-Eaters of Tsavo a true story?
Yes, it is presented as a factual memoir written in 1907 by the engineer who was there. Patterson says he toned his account down, and it was widely noticed at the time, including in Parliament.
How many people did the Tsavo lions kill?
The book says the two lions devoured twenty-eight Indian coolies, besides scores of African natives whose deaths were never officially recorded. Later estimates and figures given elsewhere differ from this.
Who is Mahina in the book?
Mahina is Patterson's Indian gun-bearer, who carries his rifles and follows him on hunts. He stands his ground in a lion charge on the plains and earns his master's warm praise.
Is The Man-Eaters of Tsavo easy to read?
It is written in a plain, lively first-person voice, with short chapters that each tell a single episode, such as a night watch, a bridge problem or a hunt, so it is easy to pick up and follow.
Cite this edition
Patterson, J. H. The Man-Eaters of Tsavo. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-man-eaters-of-tsavo.
Patterson, J. H. (2026). The man-eaters of Tsavo. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-man-eaters-of-tsavo (Original work published 1907)
Patterson, J. H. The Man-Eaters of Tsavo. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-man-eaters-of-tsavo.
@book{patterson2026maneaters,
author = {Patterson, J. H.},
title = {The Man-Eaters of Tsavo},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-man-eaters-of-tsavo},
note = {First published 1907}
}
