Man-killing Lioness Quintet

THERE WERE FEW recorded instances of lions becoming man-eaters in the old Rhodesia before guerrilla insurgents began infiltrating from neighbouring countries and were killed or wounded during contacts with the security forces. Even then, few lions began eating human flesh, and I never came across any man-eaters during my extensive hunting career in Rhodesia, though I occasionally heard of some shot by game wardens.

However, during the 1960s, I did have two encounters with man-eaters in Eastern Caprivi. I have already related the story of one; I will now tell of my other encounter involving five lionesses that became man-eaters without any apparent reason.

In those days, Eastern Caprivi was sparsely populated except for small fishing villages, mostly along the flood plains of the Zambezi and Chobe rivers.