I just finished reading two excellent books on lions in Africa. The first book was a Christmas present from my friend Marcus, entitled The Man-Eaters of Tsavo by Lt. Colonel J.H. Patterson. It was an excellent pick by my friend as I thoroughly enjoyed it. Colonel Patterson gives his personal account of the legendary Tsavo lions that killed over one hundred people in East Africa during the construction of the Uganda Railway by the British government. Colonel Patterson was hired on as the construction manager for the bridge being built over the Tsavo River. The book describes his incredible adventure of hunting and ultimate killing of the man-eaters by risking his life on many an occasion. The book also describes his many other adventures of traveling through East Africa on many different hunting trips for all kinds of wild game.
“I think that the incident of the Uganda man-eating lions…is the most remarkable account of which we have any record.” – President Theodore Roosevelt
The second book, A Lion Called Christian by Anthony Bourke and John Rendall, was also an excellent book, but was on the far end of the spectrum from man-eater lions. This book was about a friendly lion that developed a remarkable friendship with two guys in London in 1970. Anthony and John bought the lion cub, named Christian, from the pet department of Harrods in London in attempt to save him from a life of misery caged up in a circus or zoo. They take him home to live in their flat above a store where they work. They have many adventures in the store and across London where Christian quickly became a local celebrity. After many months of living in London, Christian gets to be way too big for them. They look into many different options for a life for Christian and end up concluding that they must reintroduce him into the African wild. After a year of living with Christian, they eventually are able to find a group that was able to successfully release him wild country of Kenya.
Their story became famous with the release of this youtube video that shows the reuniting of the guys with Christian a year after reintroducing him into the African wild.
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