An unarmed person is the most helpless creature a predator can hunt down. There are many cases in the history where animals preferred human flesh over anything else.
The year is 1932 the most prolific of maneaters in the history, The njombe pride of more than 15 lions started their killing spree near the town of njombe in the southern region of Tanzania.
Prior to the pride's bloody spree, The colonial government had reduced the number of prey animals in the area in an effort to control a rinderpest outbreak that was destroying the cattle herds. The lions quickly settled on human flesh.
The legend has it that, The lions were controlled by a witch doctor of the local tribe called matamula mangera who sent the lions into rampage as a revenge against his own people after being deposed off his post.
Unlike most lions, the njombe pride did its killing in the afternoon. Using night hours to travel as much as 15 to 20 miles to an unsuspecting village.
The tribesmen were so terrified of the lions that they wouldn't even dare to speak about them. Believing even a simple mention would cause the lions to appear. They begged the tribal chief to restore matamula mangera to his original post but he refused.
The lions kept on attacking and eventually took the lives of 1500 people (some say over 2000). One of the worst cases of animal attacks ever recorded.
George Rushby, a famed hunter decided to put an end to the killings. He believed that these lions were so clever, they actually used a relay system to drag the bodies into the safety of the Bush.
He hunted down and killed 15 lions of the pride, and rest eventually abandoned the area finally ending the nightmare.
But the village people believed the lions left only because the tribal chief finally agreed to restore matamula mangera to his old job.
There is mystery in it. there is adventures of a great hunter in it. But whatever the truth may be the story of the lions of njombe still terrifies people.
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