Based on the real engineer who oversaw the Tsavo bridge construction and wrote the book The Man-Eaters of Tsavo. The film depicts his actual role in hunting the lions.

A completely fictional character created for the film, played by Michael Douglas. Patterson hunted the lions primarily himself, sometimes with assistants, but not with a famous American hunter.

Represents the skilled local workers and foremen involved in the project and potentially assisting Patterson. Likely a composite character rather than based on a specific named individual.

Represents the pressure from the Imperial British East Africa Company overseeing the railway project. Beaumont himself is likely a fictional or composite figure embodying these pressures.

Represents the medical personnel present at the construction site dealing with injuries and illness. Likely a fictional or composite character.

Represents the on-site British supervisors working under Patterson. Likely a fictional or composite character.

The construction of a railway bridge over the Tsavo River in British East Africa (Kenya) in 1898 is the factual basis of the story.

Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson, an Anglo-Irish military engineer, was indeed assigned by the British authorities to oversee the bridge construction.

Two male lions did repeatedly attack and kill railway workers over several months in 1898, creating terror and halting construction.

The film uses Patterson's high estimate of 135 victims. Scientific analysis of the lions' remains suggests a much lower number (around 35), though the exact total is still debated.

The character Remington and his involvement in the hunt are entirely fictional. Patterson hunted the lions himself, with assistance from local staff and eventually some Sepoys (Indian soldiers).

The dramatic scene where a lion attacks the makeshift hospital, dragging victims out, is a fictionalized event created for the film to heighten the terror.

Patterson claimed years later to have found a cave with human remains. The film depicts this during the 1898 hunt, exaggerating it as a lair filled with skeletons, which is likely fictional embellishment.

The real Tsavo lions were males but largely maneless, a characteristic feature of lions in that region. The film used maned lions, likely for aesthetic reasons and availability of trained animals.

Patterson did use a scaffold (machan) but used a donkey, not a baboon, as bait. He wounded the first lion initially and killed it later after tracking it, not quite as depicted in the single encounter.

Patterson did kill the second lion, requiring multiple shots over a period of tracking. The film dramatizes the final confrontation significantly.

Since Remington was fictional, his dramatic death did not occur.

The lion attacks caused widespread panic among the diverse workforce (largely Indian laborers), leading hundreds to flee and bringing the railway construction to a standstill for weeks.

The lions were nicknamed "Ghost" and "Darkness" due to their cunning. The film plays up the local belief in them being supernatural entities, reflecting some contemporary superstitions/fears.

Accurately sets the story in the correct time and general location in British East Africa during the Scramble for Africa period.

Filmed primarily in South Africa, the landscape captures an African savanna environment but doesn't perfectly replicate the specific rolling grasslands and scrub of the actual Tsavo area.

Realistically portrays the large scale of the temporary work camp, including tents, makeshift structures (hospital), thorn bomas (fences), and the under-construction railway bridge.

Reflects the context of British colonial expansion, the hierarchy between British engineers/supervisors and the local African and imported Indian workforce.

Accurately shows the large presence of indentured laborers brought from British India, alongside local African workers, constituting the main workforce for the Uganda Railway construction.

Clothing for the British characters (colonial wear, formal attire) and workers, along with firearms (like Patterson's rifles) and construction tools, generally reflect the late Victorian era.

While based on real man-eating lions, the film likely exaggerates their cunning, seeming invulnerability, and coordinated attacks for dramatic effect. Their motive remains scientifically debated.