The Hollywood movie The Ghost and the Darkness (1996) told the true story of two lions that stalked railway crews in Kenya. The Tsavo lions killed about 35 people before Colonel Patterson stopped them. Many think that was the worst human-lion conflict in history. They are wrong.

The Njombe man-eaters were a pride of lions that terrorized southern Tanzania during the 1930s. Their killing spree is the deadliest known series of lion attacks on humans in recorded history. Over a period of several years, these lions are believed to have killed and eaten more than 1,500 people.

A one-eyed male led the attacks, teaching his pride to prefer human prey.

Loss of Prey

Njombe sits on a cool plateau at 6,500 feet (1,980 m).

A decade earlier, rinderpest – a highly contagious viral disease – swept through East Africa and decimated the local livestock population. The plague killed up to nine in ten cattle, plus countless buffalo and antelope. Herds that once provided milk, meat, and draft power vanished in weeks. Families lost oxen for plowing. Traders lost pack animals for caravan routes.

To rebuild, the British colonial government bought young stock from disease-free districts and marched them south each dry season toward markets in Zambia and Malawi. To shield the animals from further outbreaks, game officers ordered a “cordon sanitaire.” They shot or trapped zebra, wildebeest, eland, and kudu along a 30-mile (48-kilometer) buffer strip on both sides of the trail.

The policy saved cattle but stripped the plateau of natural lion prey. By 1933, most large herbivores in the corridor were gone. The lions that depended on them faced starvation. But one group adapted instead.

Man-Eaters Emerge

The trouble started quietly in late 1932. A herder vanished while cutting grass near Tungamalenga. His shredded blanket lay in the bush. Two nights later a woman fetching water at dawn was dragged off within earshot of her hut. Then a child was torn from a maize plot.

Word spread that a one-eyed male lion prowled the fields.

This pride hunted like no other. They travelled up to 20 miles (32 km) at night, then attacked by day. Teams worked in relay, hauling victims into thickets before feeding so the carcasses stayed hidden. The one-eyed male nicknamed Kipanga (“one with one eye”) led every raid, and cubs learned by watching.

Over weeks the attacks fanned east toward Njombe Town. Laborers fled, fields emptied and markets closed. Within months the region’s fear eclipsed anything Tsavo had ever known.

Many locals believed the killers were spirit lions sent by sorcerers. By 1935 colonial officers recorded more than 40 fatalities. But locals said the lions’ kill count was much higher – more than 1,500 dead.

Rushby’s Hunt

District officials finally summoned Game Ranger George Gilman Rushby. He was a seasoned game ranger who had spent years driving rogue elephants from maize fields. He arrived with two scouts, a dozen steel gin-traps, several live goats, and a battered .470 double rifle.

Rushby utilized a few strategies against the lions. He set up tethered goats inside thorn fences and climbed a nearby tree at dusk. On paths leading to the pens he buried gin-traps, covering the jaws with dust and dry leaves. And finally, he poisoned bait carcasses.

After two weeks he had shot two lionesses and a sub-adult male. The raids slowed but did not stop. Fresh tracks showed the one-eyed male still led. Rushby shifted tactics. He placed a tethered goat near a waterhole the lions favored at dawn. On the fourth morning, Kipanga came in alone. The first shot broke the lion’s shoulder. The second round dropped him before he rose.

Over the next month he baited and tracked until he had accounted for twelve more lions including females and nearly grown cubs that had joined the killing. Villagers helped drag the carcasses and burned them in communal fires, believed to trap the lions’ spirits in the smoke. Reports of attacks fell to zero.

In total, 15 lions were dispatched, ending the deadliest man-eater outbreak ever recorded.

Why Did These Lions Become Man-Eaters?

No single explanation exists, but several theories have been put forward. The most likely is a breakdown in the local ecosystem. First, disease may have reduced wild prey populations. With fewer antelope and buffalo available, lions turned to an easier target: humans. Some reports also suggest that poor burial practices during times of famine or disease may have habituated lions to human flesh. Once a lion starts feeding on people, it may keep doing so.

There are also local accounts of witchcraft. Some villagers believed a powerful witchdoctor had cursed the region and sent the lions as punishment. These beliefs weren’t taken lightly. In rural communities, supernatural explanations often carried as much weight as natural ones.

Today, lion attacks on humans still occur, but at nowhere near the same scale. Better conservation management, stronger community protections, and wildlife education have helped reduce human-wildlife conflict.